On proportionality of punishments and the economic theory of crime

Practitioners of the modern economic theory of crime acknowledge the influence of the eighteenth century writers Montesquieu, Beccaria, and Bentham, whose theories of crime and punishment clearly presaged the economic approach. An important value espoused by all of these writers is proportionality between punishments and crimes, both as an end in itself and as a means of achieving marginal deterrence. This essay asks how closely the concept of proportionality is reflected in the prescriptions of the economic theory. The answer turns out to depend both on how proportionality is defined and on the assumptions underlying the enforcement regime.