Does crime pay? Do governments punish and regulate crime too much or too little? Using economic concepts, this course examines the economic issues of crime, crime control, and criminal punishment. Topics include the economic costs of crime, models of criminal choice, economic analysis of allocating criminal justice resources to control criminal behavior, the underground economy, costs and benefits of drug laws, and policies for crime prevention. Some of the current issues to be addressed may include criminal justice policies, gun laws, drugs, abortion, gangs, terrorism, prison privatization, the death penalty, three strikes and you are out laws, gambling, and prostitution. Basic economic tools will be used, and they will be developed as needed. One or two field trips to correctional facilities may be taken during the semester.
Economics 100 or 101; or consent of instructor.