Crime Policy (21088)
Titulació/estudi: Criminologia i Polítiques Públiques de Prevenció
Curs: 3
Trimestre: 3
Nombre de crèdits ECTS: 5
Hores de dedicació de l'estudiant: 125
Llengua o llengües de la docència: anglès
Professor: Íñigo Ortiz de Urbina Gimeno
● Tutories: Dilluns 16-18 h. (despatx 40.210).
1. Presentació de l'assignatura
This course´s aim is to help you mobilize the theoretical knowledge you have acquired in courses such as "Introducción a la Criminología" and "Teorías criminológicas" in order to elaborate policies to reduce the amount and/or significance of crime.
The main underlying idea is that crime policy can aptly be seen as a toolbox containing many instruments, all of which capable of having a positive effect in crime reduction. Many of these instruments can be used simultaneously and on the same target population, but oftentimes there is a need to decide between them. In a majority of occasions this need to decide is not caused by the theoretical incompatibility of the different options, since they may well be compatible as a conceptual matter, but due to budget constraints. In these numerous occasions, economic analysis can help to decide by focusing on the costs and benefits of the different alternatives. Hence, we will use economic analysis to review several crime prevention measures from the standpoint of their policy implications, both positive (factual effects) and normative (values).
Following the first three more general sessions, which focus on conceptual topics regarding economics and crime policy, the course will move to the analysis of economic analysis of specific crime policies. Topics will be presented in the theoretical sessions and discussed in the seminars following them.
2. Competències que s'han d'assolir
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Competències generals |
Competències específiques |
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1. Capacidad para expresar y comunicar, a nivel básico, en inglés (G.2) 2. Capacidad para aplicar los conocimientos teóricos a situaciones y problemas reales (G.6) |
1. Capacidad para diseñar, aplicar y evaluar programas de prevención y políticas públicas y capacidad de sugerir alternativas (E.6) 2. Capacidad para distinguir argumentaciones basadas en valores y argumentaciones basadas en evidencias empíricas (E.10) 3. Capacidad de anàlisis de los efectos teóricos y empíricos de las políticas sociales (E.15) 4. Comprensión de los principios básicos de la economía (E.31) |
3. Continguts
Bloc de contingut 1. Crime Policy
- Crime policy: Defining, preventing, and reacting to crime
- Criminology and crime policy: overlaps and differences
Bloc de contingut 2. Economic Analysis
- Incentives, positive and negative
- Economics and deterrence theory
- Crime costing
- Effectiveness and efficiency. Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis
- Costs and benefits of crime prevention measures
- The place of values in the economic analysis of crime policy
Bloc de contingut 3. Applications
- Deterrence: police and penalties
- Prisons
- Rehabilitation
- Social policies, general and particular
4. Avaluació
- Written responses to questions posed at the end of each seminar will account for 50% of the course evaluation
- A written test covering all the course´s content will account for 50% of the evaluation.
- Oral intervention in seminars may raise the course grade up to two points (over ten).
5. Bibliografia i recursos didàctics
● Bibliografia bàsica
- Cooter, R./Ulen, T.: Law and Economics. 6ª ed., Prentice Hall 2011.
- Garoupa, N.: Criminal Law and Economics. Edward Elgar 2009.
- Garrido, V./Redondo, S/Stangeland, P.: Principios de criminología. 3ª ed., Tirant lo blanch 2006.
● Bibliografia complementària
- Campbell, Robin (Writer): "Roundtable: Dollars and Sentences. Legislators´ views on Prisons, Punishment, and the Budget Crisis". Available at: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/vera/vera_jul03.pdf
- Cohen, Mark: Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Crime and Justice. Available at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/criminal_justice2000/vol_4/04f.pdf
- Donohue, J: Fighting Crime: An Economist´s View. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=john_donohue&sei-redir=1#search=%22fighting%20crime%20an%20economist%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20view%20john%20donohue%22
- Donohue, J./Siegelman, P.: "Allocating Resources Among Prisons and Social Programs in the Battle Against Crime", 27 Journal of Legal Studies, 1998, pp. 1-43.
- Jacobson, J.: Downsizing Prisons. New York University Press, 2005.
● Recursos didàctics
- National Institute of Justice: http://nij.gov/topics/corrections/welcome.htm
- Home Office: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/
- Vera Institute (cost-benefit analysis): http://www.vera.org/topics/cba
- Washington State Institute for Public Policy: http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/