The Deterrent Effect of Criminal Law Enforcement

and Administration of Justice estimated the economic costs of reported crime in the U.S. in 1965 at $21 billion (about four per cent of the reported national income),' which exceeded the economic costs of unemployment in that year. A survey sponsored by the Commission revealed that crime is seen by the public as the second most important domestic issue after race.2 Crime, broadly defined as all violations of law, has probably been on the rise throughout this century if only because legislation has expanded beyond providing protection for personal safety and property rights to cover virtually every aspect of business life.3 Crime control is far from costless. In 1965 public expenditure on police, criminal courts, defense counsel and "corrections" at the federal, state and local levels amounted to $4.6 billions. But while considerable resources are spent on enforcement of existing laws, and while new laws are being contemplated, very little is known in fact about the deterrent effect of the various measures of combatting crime or about the extent to which crimes of various kinds can be deterred.5 The idea that law enforcement-the apprehension and punishment of law breakers-serves partly as a means of deterring future crimes by those ap-