penalty to the severity of the crime. We combine individual-level data on sentence length for a representative sample of US … inmates with proxies for maximum punishment and monitoring costs across US states over 50 years. Consistent with the theory of …

evidence on punishment preferences, in which subjects reveal a heterogeneous preference for punishing wrongdoers, our model … identifies circumstances in which “punitive” individuals (with stronger-than-average punishment preferences) will self …-select into law enforcement jobs that offer the opportunity to punish (or facilitate the punishment of) wrongdoers. Such “punitive …

The empirical literature testing the economic theory of crime has extensively studied the relative importance of the … probability and the severity of punishment with reference to planned criminal activities. There are, however, also unplanned …

The empirical literature testing the economic theory of crime has extensively studied the relative importance of the … probability and the severity of punishment with reference to planned criminal activities. There are, however, also unplanned …

environment. Using geocoded crime data and a novel source of within-city spatial and temporal variation in punishment severity, I … consistent with police treating enforcement effort and punishment severity as complementary. I also find that citywide crime and … punishment and suggests that certain types enforcement can be reduced without incurring large public safety costs …