Reducing crime through expungements
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2017
Journal Title
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
ISSN
0167-2681
DOI
10.1016/j.jebo.2017.03.021
Abstract
Expungement refers to the legal practice of having one's criminal record sealed. These legal devices lower the visibility of a person's criminal record, and thereby reduce the informal sanctions that may be imposed on him. This reduction is enjoyed by the ex-convict only if he does not become a repeat offender, because otherwise he re-obtains a criminal record. Thus, the value a person attaches to having his record expunged is inversely related to his criminal tendency. Therefore, by making expungements costly, the criminal justice system can sort out low criminal tendency individuals – who are unlikely to recidivate – from people who have high criminal tendencies. Moreover, the availability of expungements does not substantially affect a first time offender's incentive to commit crime, because one incurs a cost close to the reduction in informal sanctions that he enjoys by sealing his criminal record. On the other hand, expungements increase specific deterrence, because a person who has no visible record suffers informal sanctions if he is convicted a second time. Thus, perhaps counter-intuitively, allowing ex-convicts to seal their records at substantial costs reduces crime.
First Page
398
Last Page
409
Num Pages
12
Volume Number
137
Publisher
Elsevier
Recommended Citation
Murat C. Mungan,
Reducing crime through expungements,
137
J. Econ. Behav. & Org.
398
(2017).
Available at:
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