How criminalizing minor offenses can mean there is less of a deterrent for people to commit more serious crimes.

Mungan, Murat C. (2016) How criminalizing minor offenses can mean there is less of a deterrent for people to commit more serious crimes. USApp– American Politics and Policy Blog (11 Jan 2016). Website.

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Abstract

Those convicted of a crime are often punished twice; once via the legal system’s formal sanction, and again through the stigma of having a criminal record. Murat C. Mungan argues that the criminalization of many small offenses – such as drug possession – means that this stigma is becoming diluted for more serious criminal offenses. If a large percentage of the population is branded as criminals, he writes, this means that having a criminal record becomes less of marker of a person’s character, no matter if that crime is minor or severe.

Item Type:	Online resource (Website)
Official URL:	http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/
Additional Information:	© 2016 The Authors
Divisions:	LSE
Subjects:	J Political Science > JK Political institutions (United States)
Date Deposited:	04 Jan 2017 12:44
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2023 20:23
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/68730

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