Punishment and Crime

Gary Kleck is David J. Bordua Professor Emeritus at Florida State University. He earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Illinois and a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Illinois. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America, which won the 1991 Michael J. Hindelang Award of the American Society of Criminology. Brion Sever is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Florida Gulf Coast University. Previously, he taught for sixteen years at Monmouth University. He earned a Ph.D. in Criminology from Florida State University. He has published research in over a dozen journals, including Criminology, Police Quarterly, and the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.

List of Tables. Acknowledgements. Chapter 1 – Introduction. Chapter 2 – Theory: The Mechanisms by Which Legal Punishment Might Reduce Crime. Chapter 3 – Deterrence and the Rational Choice Model of Criminal Behavior – The Case of the Disappearing Theory. Chapter 4 – General Methodological Problems in Punishment Research. Chapter 5 – Individual-Level Research on General Deterrence – The Impact of Perceptions of Legal Risk on Criminal Behavior. Chapter 6 – Individual-Level Research on the Effects of Punishment on the Punished –Special Deterrence. Chapter 7 – Macro-Level Research on the Effect of Punishment Levels. Chapter 8 - The Impact of Capital Punishment on Murder RatesChapter 9 – The Missing Link Between Macro-Level and Individual-Level Effects: The Impact of Macro-level Punishment Levels on Individual Perceptions of Legal Risk. Chapter 10 – Incapacitative Effects of Incarceration and the Impact of Imprisonment Rates. Chapter 11 – Crime-Increasing Effects of Punishment. Chapter 12 – Conclusions. Index.