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Cover of: Governmental Action, Social Norms, and Criminal Behavior
Patricia Funk

Governmental Action, Social Norms, and Criminal Behavior

Section: Articles
Volume 161 (2005) / Issue 3, pp. 522-535 (14)
Published 09.07.2018
DOI 10.1628/093245605774259363
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Summary
This article explores the relationship between governmental deterrence, crime, and the strength of social norms against crime. Based on experimental research in psychology and economics, I argue that the strength of the social norm of »not committing a crime« is shaped by social interactions. Modeling these social interactions exhibits self-reinforcing processes of crime and multiple equilibria. As for the impact of governmental deterrence, I show that harsher governmental deterrence reduces crime directly as well as indirectly through its impact on social norms.