Resource title

Prevention of Crime and the Optimal Standard of Proof in Criminal Law

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Resource description

The standard of proof in criminal law a®ects retributive justice throughthe number of wrong convictions and wrong acquittals. It also a®ects thelevel of crime, since a higher standard of proof implies less deterrence andless incapacitation. This article derives an expression for the optimal standardfrom a trade-o® between these e®ects, and applies the expression tothe crime of sexual violation against women. For this crime, social preferencesfor justice versus prevention of crime are elicited through a surveyand inserted into the expression for the optimal standard. The result indicatesthat the concern for prevention of crime may have a signi¯cant e®ecton the optimal standard of proof.

Resource author

Henrik Lando

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Resource publish date

Resource language

eng

Resource content type

application/pdf

Resource resource URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10398/6785

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