Citation

D'Amico DJ. Public Choice 2009; 145(3-4): 461-482.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s11127-009-9575-z

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Recent histories of Ancient Greece describe a transition from customary law to public criminal justice between 800 and 400 B.C. This narrative contains three pieces of evidence against the presumption that prisons are a public good and government must provide incarcerations. First, before the rise of a formal government, Ancient Greece had a functioning system of criminal law enforcement. Second, the timeline surrounding the rise of government institutions in Ancient Greece originated with Solon's penal reforms. Lastly, the rise of a government system was more the result of private rather than public interest.

Language: en