Reexamining the Role of Incarceration and Stigma in Criminal Law

One of the ways by which the legal system has responded to different sets of problems is the blurring of the traditional boundaries of criminal law, both procedural and substantive. This study aims to explore under what conditions does this trend lead to the improvement of society's welfare by focusing on two distinguishing sanctions in criminal law, incarceration and social stigma. In analyzing how incarceration affects the incentive to an individual to violate a legal standard, we considered the crucial role of the time constraint. This aspect has not been fully explored in the literature on law and economics, especially with respect to the analysis of the beneficiality of imposing either a fine or a prison term. We observed that that when individuals are heterogeneous with respect to wealth and wage income, and when the level of activity can be considered a normal good, only the middle wage and middle income groups can be adequately deterred by a fixed fines alone regime. The existing literature only considers the case of the very poor, deemed as judgment proof. However, since imprisonment is a socially costly way to deprive individuals of their time, other alternatives may be sought such as the imposition of discriminatory monetary fine, partial incapacitation and other alternative sanctions. According to traditional legal theory, the reason why criminal law is obeyed is not mainly due to the monetary sanctions but to the stigma arising from the community’s moral condemnation that accompanies conviction or merely suspicion. However, it is not sufficiently clear whether social stigma always accompanies a criminal conviction. We addressed this issue by identifying the circumstances wherein a criminal conviction carries an additional social stigma. Our results show that social stigma is seen to accompany a conviction under the following conditions: first, when the law coincides with the society's social norms; and second, when the prohibited act provides information on an unobservable attribute or trait of an individual -- crucial in establishing or maintaining social relationships beyond mere economic relationships. Thus, even if the social planner does not impose the social sanction directly, the impact of social stigma can still be influenced by the probability of conviction and the level of the monetary fine imposed as well as the varying degree of correlation between the legal standard violated and the social traits or attributes of the individual. In this respect, criminal law serves as an institution that facilitates cognitive efficiency in the process of imposing the social sanction to the extent that the rest of society is boundedly rational and use judgment heuristics. Paradoxically, using criminal law in order to invoke stigma for the violation of a legal standard may also serve to undermine its strength. To sum, the results of our analysis reveal that the scope of criminal law is narrow both for the purposes of deterrence and cognitive efficiency. While there are certain conditions where the enforcement of criminal law may lead to an increase in social welfare, particularly with respect to incarceration and stigma, we have also identified the channels through which they could affect behavior. Since such mechanisms can be replicated in less costly ways, society should first try or seek to employ these legal institutions before turning to criminal law as a last resort.

The New EU Criminal Law Competence in Action: The Proposal for a Directive on Criminal Sanctions for Insider Dealing and Market Manipulation. IES WORKING PAPER 5/2013

The aim of this paper is to analyse the proposed Directive on criminal sanctions for insider dealing and market manipulation (COM(2011)654 final), which represents the first exercise of the European Union competence provided for by Article 83(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The proposal aims at harmonising the sanctioning regimes provided by the Member States for market abuse, imposing the introduction of criminal sanctions and providing an opportunity to critically reflect on the position taken by the Commission towards the use of criminal law. The paper will discuss briefly the evolution of the EU’s criminal law competence, focusing on the Lisbon Treaty. It will analyse the ‘essentiality standard’ for the harmonisation of criminal law included in Article 83(2) TFEU, concluding that this standard encompasses both the subsidiarity and the ultima ratio principles and implies important practical consequences for the Union’s legislator. The research will then focus on the proposed Directive, trying to assess if the Union’s legislator, notwithstanding the ‘symbolic’ function of this proposal in the financial crisis, provides consistent arguments on the respect of the ‘essentiality standard’. The paper will note that the proposal raises some concerns, because of the lack of a clear reliance on empirical data regarding the essential need for the introduction of criminal law provisions. It will be stressed that only the assessment of the essential need of an EU action, according to the standard set in Article 83(2) TFEU, can guarantee a coherent choice of the areas interested by the harmonisation process, preventing the legislator to choose on the basis of other grounds.

A sketch of the criminal law.

Mode of access: Internet.

Parliamentary law and rules of procedure : a manual of practical information concerning deliberative bodies; motions and their purpose and relation; voting; elections; committees; officers and debate; together with model forms and reference charts; in accordance with Robert's rules of order, revised 1915 /

Mode of access: Internet.

Jesus before Pilate; a monograph of the crucifixion; political and legal history of the trial of Jesus under the Jewish and Roman criminal law, with an account of the office, powers, public acts and private character of Tiberius Caesar ... and others connected with the trial; embracing the Acts of Pontius Pilate, translatd from the oldest manuscripts, with proof of their antiquity and discussion of authenticity;

Disbound Original Held in Oak Street Library Facility.

Criminal law in action /

Mode of access: Internet.

Origines juridiciales, or Historical memorials of the English laws, courts of justice, forms of tryal, punishment in cases criminal, law-writers, law-books, grants and settlements of estates, degree of serjeant, Innes of court and chancery.

Head-pieces: a few manuscript marginal notes; the "Chronica series" covers the period 1067-1671, and is extended in manuscript through 1727 (with omission of last four columns, magist. rotulorum & c., for 1722-1727.

The law, practice, and procedure, relating to patents, designs, and trade marks : containing the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1882 : with the rules and forms, and the official instructions, regulations, and notices issued in pursuance of the act : and also the law officers' rules, and Privy Council rules : with full notes and comments /

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Wills, estates, and trusts; a manual of law, accounting, and procedure, for executors, administrators, and trustees,

Paged continuously.

Reports of criminal law cases : decided at the City-hall of the City of New York : with notes and references /

"The second and third volumes contain a large number of cases decided in United States circuit and district courts." --Soule, Lawyer's ref. manual, 1884.

Riverboat gambling and crime in Illinois : preliminary report on riverboat gambling in Joliet, impact on criminal activity and law enforcement workloads.

Cover title.

Remarks on criminal law : with a plan for an improved system, and observation on the prevention of crime.

Mode of access: Internet.

Observations on the criminal law of England : as it relates to capital punishments, and on the mode in which it is administered /

Includes bibliographical references.

Reports of cases in criminal law argued and determined in all the courts in England and Ireland.

Mode of access: Internet.