Economic theory predicts that increasing the severity of punishments will deter criminal behavior by raising the expected price of committing crime. This implicit price can be substantially raised by making prison sentences longer, but only if offenders’ discount rates are relatively low. We use a large sample of felony arrests to measure the deterrence effect of criminal sanctions. We exploit ...

The expansion of the US carceral state has been accompanied by the emergence of what we call the ‘shadow carceral state’. Operating beyond the confines of criminal law and justice institutions, the shadow carceral state expands penal power through institutional annexation and legal hybridity, including: (1) increased civil and administrative pathways to incarceration; (2) the creation of civil ...

The veteran-forensic interface is an emerging area of relevance to forensic clinicians assessing or treating returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans facing criminal sanctions. Veterans' Treatment Court (VTC) represents a recent diversion mechanism for low-level offenses that is based on a collaborative justice model. Thirty-nine percent of veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and rece...

In spite of its centrality in the criminal justice system, the principle of proportionality is poorly defined, and its role in judicial sentencing rests on shaky ground. The idea that criminal sanctions should be imposed only in proportion to those crimes to which they seek to respond is well recognised and ostensibly applied in most modern legal systems. However, by examining the role of propo...

BACKGROUND Few studies have compared self-reported criminal behaviour with high-quality databases of criminal offences and judicial sanctions. Self-reported problems from drug abusers are generally believed to be valid. We assessed the validity of self-reported theft, drug offences and prison sentences from a five-year follow-up of female substance abusers who were originally treated in a compu...

Civil remedies are procedures and sanctions, specified by civil statutes and regulations, used to prevent or reduce criminal problems and incivilities. Civil remedies generally aim to persuade or coerce nonoffending third parties to take responsibility and action to prevent or end criminal or nuisance behavior. Early examples of civil remedy approaches typically targeted non-offending third par...

Title of Document: THE CRIMINAL CONDUCT OF RADICAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS: A RATIONAL CHOICE PERSPECTIVE Jennifer Varriale Carson, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Directed By: Professor Gary LaFree, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice In this dissertation, I examine whether members of radical environmental and animal rights groups are deterred by legal sanctions, morality,...