Reaction paper based on the economics of crime and punishment in the us

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Economics

Document 1

The comparison presented a fluctuating relationship with the US either rising high or dropping low in terms of the number of nonviolent crimes recorded as outlined by Ulen & Robert (486). However, in a comparison based on the number of violent crimes, the US has been viewed to maintain its position at the top above the United Kingdom, France and Netherlands. People who break the laws, that is, get involved in criminal activities are often imprisoned in many countries including the US and they are charged accordingly. The questions that remain are on the causes of increased crime rates, whether imprisonment has any significance to change of behavior and the ways to reduce the crime rates. The primary goal of this paper is to give a reaction on the discussions regarding crime and punishments in the US as discussed in chapter 13 of Law and Economics and to address the impacts of the topic on human lives further.

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The Native Americans were entitled to better living standards because of available employment opportunities, and the counterparts of African ancestry would rob them in attempt to cope up with the high poverty levels to which they were imperiled. However, the policies that have been reinstated against racism over the few centuries are responsible for the substantial declines in the crime rates that have been registered in the US. One of the ways the US criminal department has helped reduce the rate of criminal activities is to increase the severity of prison punishments. However, my take is that increasing the severity of punishment is not a good option. If the significant cause of the crimes is sluggishness, then the youths should be equally entitled to some form of employment.

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One way that would sufficiently attack crimes is ensuring that the root causes of the crimes are attacked first before the effects. If drug abuse leads to theft and robbery, then it’s better to deal with the drugs which would create a platform for shunning theft cases. High amounts of funds and resources may be used to improve the quality of punishments. Resources used in such activities have no return values on the economy of a country. Thus, it could be seen as a wastage and the resources should be diverted to do other constructive activities. For example, some criminals have the notion that the benefits they can get from criminal activities are way better than the punishments. A drug dealer can be placed under that category.

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The dealers are pretty sure that drugs like cocaine are costly and if they are arrested, they would still use part of their profits to pay the required bonds (Ulen & Robert, 498). The other category involves the needy. People in this category include the small scale robbers who are interested in surviving and rapists who need to satisfy their pleasures and go their way. The rate of capital punishment has thus declined due to various reasons. One reason for the decline of capital punishment is adherence to research that provided information that many men who died in the late 1990s were innocent. The citizens realized that the death penalty was used unfairly and thus preferred severe trials before a decision could be made.

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