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Date: March 29, 2024 Fri

Time: 10:41 am

Results for expungements

2 results found

Author: Mungan, Murat C.

Title: Stigma Dilution and Over-Criminalization

Summary: Criminalizing an act that provides weak signals about a person's productivity and character can dilute the stigma attached to having a criminal record. This reduces the deterrence of serious crimes that do provide strong signals regarding the offender's character. Over-criminalization occurs when the costs associated with reduced deterrence due to stigma dilution off-set potential benefits associated with criminalizing the less harmful act. Identifying conditions under which stigma dilution is likely and comparatively costly allows the determination of factors that affect the desirability of (de)criminalizing various acts. These factors are discussed in the context of marijuana possession offenses to illustrate how over-criminalization may reduce social welfare. The normative desirability of various practices in criminal law are also discussed vis-a-vis their impacts on stigma dilution.

Details: Tallahassee: Florida State University College of Law, 2015. 26p.

Source: Internet Resource: FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 717; FSU College of Law, Law, Business & Economics Paper No. 14-16 : Accessed October 8, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2534828

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2534828

Shelf Number: 145078

Keywords:
Criminal Records
Decriminalization
Drug Policy
Expungements
Marijuana

Author: Mungan, Murat C.

Title: Reducing Crime through Expungements

Summary: Expungements reduce 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.

Details: Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University College of Law, 2016. 17p.

Source: Internet Resource: FSU College of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 786 ; FSU College of Law, Law, Business & Economics Paper No. 16-2 Accessed October 28, 2016 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2711024

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2711024

Shelf Number: 145015

Keywords:
Costs of Crime
Criminal Records
Deterrence
Expungements