The volume presents the seminal articles in the economic analysis of the criminal law. Other articles present influential applications of economic concepts and evidence to perennial issues in criminal law and criminal justice, such as gun control, drug prohibition, and sentencing policy.

Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction Steven D. Levitt and Thomas J. Miles PART I ECONOMIC APPROACH TO CRIME AND CRIMINAL LAW 1. Gary S. Becker (1968), ‘Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach’ 2. George J. Stigler (1970), ‘The Optimum Enforcement of Laws’ 3. A. Mitchell Polinsky and Steven Shavell (1975), ‘The Optimal Tradeoff between the Probability and Magnitude of Fines’ 4. Dan M. Kahan (1996), ‘What Do Alternative Sanctions Mean?’ 5. Richard A. Posner (1985), ‘An Economic Theory of the Criminal Law’ 6. Steven Shavell (1985), ‘Criminal Law and the Optimal Use of Nonmonetary Sanctions as a Deterrent’ 7. William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner (1975), ‘The Private Enforcement of Law’ 8. Frank H. Easterbrook (1983), ‘Criminal Procedure as a Market System’ PART II EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF THE ECONOMIC APPROACH 9. Franklin M. Fisher and Daniel Nagin (1978), ‘On the Feasibility of Identifying the Crime Function in a Simultaneous Model of Crime Rates and Sanction Levels’ 10. Steven D. Levitt (1996), ‘The Effect of Prison Population Size on Crime Rates: Evidence from Prison Overcrowding Litigation’ 11. Daniel Kessler and Steven D. Levitt (1999), ‘Using Sentence Enhancements to Distinguish Between Deterrence and Incapacitation’ 12. Edward L. Glaeser, Bruce Sacerdote and José A. Scheinkman (1996), ‘Crime and Social Interactions’ PART III ISSUES IN CRIMINAL LAW AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE A Gun Control 13. Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig (2003), ‘The Effects of the Brady Act on Gun Violence’ 14. Ian Ayres and John J. Donohue III (1999), ‘Nondiscretionary Concealed Weapons Laws: A Case Study of Statistics, Standards of Proof, and Public Policy’ B Capital Punishment 15. John J. Donohue and Justin Wolfers (2005), ‘Uses and Abuses of Empirical Data in the Death Penalty Debate’ C Drug Prohibition 16. Jeffrey A. Miron and Jeffrey Zwiebel (1995), ‘The Economic Case Against Drug Prohibition’ 17. Gary S. Becker, Kevin M. Murphy and Michael Grossman (2006), ‘The Market for Illegal Goods: The Case of Drugs’ D Sentencing Policy 18. James M. Anderson, Jeffrey R. Kling and Kate Stith (1999), ‘Measuring Interjudge Sentencing Disparity: Before and After the Federal Sentencing Guidelines’ E Legalized Abortion and Crime 19. John J. Donohue III and Steven D. Levitt (2001), ‘The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime’ Name Index

‘This volume brings together some of the most influential articles in the field of law and economics. Together the chapters illustrate how economic theory and rigorous empirical analysis can shed light on some of the most important issues in social science and public policy – namely, under what circumstances individuals break the law and how sanctions can be structured to most effectively prevent such behavior. This book will be an excellent resource for graduate students and researchers not only in economics, but in other social sciences as well.’