Governments facing high levels of crime and violence must act through their criminal justice systems to increase safety … society, and (2) reducing the proximate causes of crime. All countries depend on some combination of these two strategies, but … while governments tend to favor the first, the second usually produces greater crime reduction. We show how improving five …

Empirical studies have found that increasing the probability of punishment has a greater effect on crime than the … deter crime in the period they are applied but offer criminals no information on their criminal ability. Crime is also … estimates of their ability, leading to reduced recidivism …