Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Perverse Incentives Created Our Dysfunctional Criminal Justice System

Chris Surprenant and I have the lead essay this month on a Cato Unbound symposium on why the US criminal justice is so terrible. It draws from our book Injustice for All

Abstract of the symposium:

We all know that the United States imprisons many more people per capita than otherfree countries. But why? Progressives, conservatives, and libertarians all have their favored theories, but this month’s lead authors, Chris W. Surprenant and Jason Brennan, argue that none of them captures the whole story. Here to discuss with them this month are Clark Neily, the Cato Institute’s Vice President for Criminal Justice; and John Malcolm, the Heritage Foundation’s Vice President for the Institute for Constitutional Government and Director of the Meese Center for Legal & Judicial Studies. The conversation will continue through the end of the month, and comments on posts are open to readers during the same time period.