Social Welfare

1. Social Welfare The Impact of Crime on Society

2. Outline and Issues • Course logistics: http://www.econ.ucsb.edu • Criminal Justice System (CJS) & economic paradigm: where do the values (prices) come from to evaluate the states (outcomes) of the CJS? • How much crime is there? How do we know? • Crime has two effects: • Redistribution of welfare from the victim to the perpetrator • Opportunity cost or waste of resources for defense

6. SERIOUSNESS SURVEY RATE THE SERIOUSNESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING BEHAVIORS ON A SCALE FROM ZERO( LEAST SERIOUS) TO TEN( MOST SERIOUS): 1. HOMICIDE ___ 2. MASS POISONING ( e.g. TYLENOL) ___ 3. FORCIBLE RAPE ___ 4. ARSON: SET FIRE TO A GARAGE ___ 5. SELLING HEROIN ___ 6. AUTO THEFT ___ 7. EMBEZZLEMENT OF $1,000 ___ 8. PROSTITUTE IN A HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION ___ 9. POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA ___ 10. SNIFFING GLUE ___

7. A Theme for this Course • Criminal Justice System is in crisis. • Courts have told Governor Schwarzenegger to find housing for prisoners or release them early • City and County jails are overflowing and a revolving door policy is in effect. Repeat offenders clog the system • Not enough judges and prosecutors

9. We have met the enemy and he is us

11. 2006

13. It Has Not Always Been This Way • The Criminal Justice System had been relatively stable in the decade after World War II • What happened? That is the story of this course. • We will review the history of criminal justice in the 60 years since WW II. • We will suggest policies that will help turn things around now. In brief, what is needed is triage, i.e. to use scarce resources that will improve public safety the most.

14. Social Welfare The Impact of Crime on Society

15. Questions about crime • Is crime a real problem or a media induced problem? • Is crime an economic problem? • Are we getting our money’s worth for the dollars we spend on police, jails, and prisons?

16. Taking Crimes • Robbery • Burglary • Auto Theft • Larceny

17. How is Crime Measured • Victimization Surveys of Households • U S Dept of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization • Citizen (Victim) Reports to Police • U S Dept of Justice, FBI, Uniform Crime Reports

18. http://www.fbi.gov/homepage.htm Uniform Crime Reports Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, http://www.albany.edu/ sourcebook

19. Measures of Crime: Offense Rates • Thefts per 1000 registrations(FBI) = registrations per household * thefts per 1000 households(NCVS) • if registrations per household were growing in the 90’s then thefts per 1000 registrations would not fall as fast as thefts per 1000 households

20. 3000 2000 1000 Crime in California, 2005

21. Trends In Crime in California Source: Crime and Delinquency in California, 2002 http://caag.state.ca.us/

22. Source: http://caag.state.ca.us/

24. Violent Crime Mix, CA ‘03

25. Homicide by Weapon, CA ‘03

28. California Crime Mix

29. California Crime Index: Property Crimes

30. California: Trend in Robberies Per Capita in 90’s

31. Types of Robberies in California, 1998

32. California: Armed Robberies, 54% of Total, By Weapon

34. Sources of Criminal Justice Information On the Internet Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics: http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/ Uniform Crime Reports, Crime in the United States, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/03cius.htm Bureau of Justice Statistics: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ Crime in California, http://caag.state.ca.us/cjsc/pubs.htm California Department of Corrections, http://www.corr.ca.gov/

35. Two Perspectives On Crime • No Problem • It’s Bad

36. Crime as Income Redistribution • The Robin Hood Myth • Take from the rich and give to the poor • The impact on social welfare • depends on your views or values • socialist versus a capitalist

39. Crime as a dead weight loss • Loss of resouces spent on defense • protection of homes • protection of cars • protection of bicycles • Resources spent on defense • could be spent on goods and services • in the absence of crime • The impact on social welfare • Unambiguously bad

40. What is the nature of crime? • Income redistribution? • or dead-weight loss?

41. Economists Assume You Know What You Like • Lingo: economists call these consumer tastes or consumer preferences

42. Thief’s Income Victim’s Income

43. Thief’s Preferences 1. More is better, greedy 2. Indifferent to victim Thief’s Income High Medium Low Victim’s Income

44. Economists Assume You Can make Comparisons • For example: the thief can compare a high level of his income and a low level of the victim’s income with a high level of his income and a high level of the victim’s income • in the case just illustrated, the thief values these the same since his income stays the same • the thief does not care whether the victim’s income is high or low, i.e. he is indifferent

45. Victim’s Preferences 1. more is better, greedy 2. indifferent to the thief Thief’s Income low medium high Victim’s Income

46. Thief’s Income Income Distribution $6,000 $6,000 Victim’s Income

47. Thief’s Income Total or Social Income Line: Thief’s + Victim’s Income $12,000 Income Distribution $6,000 $12,000 $6,000 Victim’s Income

48. Thief’s Income Total or Social Income Line: Thief’s + Victim’s Income $12,000 Income Redistribution $9,000 Income Distribution $6,000 $12,000 $3,000 $6,000 Victim’s Income

49. Bad effects from taking crimes • Victim has less incentive to be productive • Victim has more incentive to spend time and money on defense • Analogous to war: guns vs. butter • What is society going to produce? • defense against crime? • or goods and services?

50. Thief’s Income Total or Social Income Line: Thief’s + Victim’s Income $12,000 $11,000 Income Redistribution $9,000 Income Distribution $6,000 $1,000 social cost of defense $11,000 $12,000 $3,000 $6,000 Victim’s Income