TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1995//
TI  - How optimal penalties change with the amount of harm
JO  - International review of law and economics
A1  - Rasmusen, Eric
SP  - 101
EP  - 108
VL  - 15
IS  - 1
N2  - Intuition tells us that the optimal penalty and court care to avoid error should rise smoothly with the harm to the victim. This is not always correct; sometimes the optimal penalty and level of court care increase discontinuously with harm, even when penalties deter harm and court care reduces error continuously. This is shown in a model in which the social cost of crime consists of its direct harm, the cost of court care, and the cost of false convictions.<p /> 
LA  - 
SN  - 0144-8188
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0144-8188(94)00008-I
ID  - ref1
ER  -