Abstract
Although economists have been actively engaged in research on criminal sentencing, the synergies between the two fields are hardly obvious. This Essay considers what economists have to contribute to the study of sentencing. One common explanation—that economists’ use of rational choice modeling has applicability to the study of deterrence—does not adequately account for much of the sentencing research that economists are producing. This Essay considers two alternative explanations. First, empirical research in both fields is predominately observational. Due to practical limits on controlled experimentation, economists have developed a variety of tools for making causal inferences from observational data, many of which have also proved useful in the study of criminal sentencing. Second, both fields are policy-oriented social sciences. Methods developed by economists for relating data to theoretical normative constructs, such as surplus and social welfare, have also proven useful in sentencing research, particularly in the study of inter-judge disparity./p
First Page
345
Recommended Citation
Joshua
B.
Fischman,
The Economic Perspective on Sentencing,
46
Loy. U. Chi. L. J.
345
(2014).
Available at:
https://lawecommons.luc.edu/luclj/vol46/iss2/4