EKONOMSKA TEORIJA GENERALNE PREVENCIJE: OSNOVNA PITANJA
ECONOMIC THEORY OF DETERRENCE: SOME BASIC ISSUES

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to review some basic issues of the economic theory of deterrence (general prevention), using economic methods and based on the contributions in the economic theory of crime. The analysis is focused to the optimal level of deterrence and optimal composition of the deterrence components: the punishment stipulated by law and probability that this punishment will be enforced. It was demonstrated that the optimal level of deterrence is always lower than the maximum one due to its social cost, i.e. the costs of the punishment itself and costs of its enforcement, including the costs of detection of the culprit and the costs of judicial process that leads towards punishment enforcement.

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