ABSTRACT
With over 2.4 million Americans behind bars (as of 2008), 2 devising a more rational incarceration policy is of paramount importance for both crime control and economic reasons. The topic of depriving an individual of his freedom is one that arouses substantial moral intuitions and arguments. I take a different approach: an economic one. As with other important policy considerations, decisions about crime, punishment, and incarceration must be based on rational, fact-based studies and cannot be left to often ill-informed theorizing.
