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Trade-offs in the allocation of prosecution resources: an opportunity cost of overcriminalization

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  • Duol Kim
  • Iljoong Kim

Abstract

One in every five citizens has a criminal record in Korea. Scarce prosecution resources have been severely skewed toward prosecuting more 'legislated crime' than 'conventional crime'. We estimate the opportunity cost of this prosecutory pattern in terms of spillovers to conventional crimes. The cost was found to be substantial. For example, in 2003, the total spillovers accounted for approximately 25% of the increase in conventional crimes for 3 years from 2000 because of the disproportionate prosecutory focus on legislated crimes compared with that of the 1990s. This article has relevance to those countries with an overcriminalizing trend for legislated crimes.

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  • Duol Kim & Iljoong Kim, 2015. "Trade-offs in the allocation of prosecution resources: an opportunity cost of overcriminalization," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(16), pages 1652-1669, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:47:y:2015:i:16:p:1652-1669
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2014.1000531
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    Cited by:

    1. Jaewook Byeon & Iljoong Kim & Dongwon Lee, 2018. "Protest and property crime: political use of police resources and the deterrence of crime," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 175(1), pages 181-196, April.
    2. Iljoong Kim & Jaewook Byeon, 2017. "Discretionary prosecution of regulatory crimes: disproportionate emphasis and consequences to other serious crimes," Asia-Pacific Journal of Regional Science, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 559-587, October.

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