David A. Dana

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Rethinking the Puzzle of Escalating Penalties for Repeat Offenders

110 Yale L.J. 733 (2001) The general principle of escalating penalties based on offense history is so widely accepted that it strikes most people as simple common sense. This principle, however, tests the explanatory limits of economics. Contrary to the assumptions in the existing literature, probabilities of detection increase for repeat offenders. As a result, the standard optimal-deterrence model in...