dissonance, increasing the severity of punishment could increase the crime rate. This paper demonstrates that that conjecture was … punishment is not severe. The rationalization may lead them to underestimate the expected utility of committing crimes when … opportunities present themselves. If punishment is severe, then rationalization may not be necessary and people may be more likely …

In three distinct disciplines, crime and punishment are studied experimentally: in empirical legal studies, in …

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 …