Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works and Other Half-Baked Theories Don't by John Jr. (books that read to you TXT) 📕

hard to find an additional penalty that you can impose on him in order to control his behavior. You can take away some privileges, but without some additional penalty it is difficult for the warden to control the prisoner.

75 ABC News/Washington Post Poll. June 22-25, 2006 (http://www.pollingreport.com/crime.htm). A 2006 Gallup poll further found that 51 percent of respondents believed the death penalty is not used enough, compared to 25 percent who think it is used “about right” and 21 percent believing it is used “too often.” Gallup Poll. May 8-11, 2006 (http://www.pollingreport.com/crime.htm.

76 Polls have found support for the death penalty at 60 percent among Eastern Europeans, 72 percent of South Africans, and 51 percent among Brazilians. See Craig Smith, “ In Europe, It’s East vs. West on the Death Penalty,” New York Times, November 19, 2006, p. 4; David W. Moore, “Death Penalty Gets Less Support From Britons, Canadians Than Americans,” Gallup Poll News Service, February 20, 2006; Datafolha / Folha de Sao Paulo, http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/12893. See also http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/11872, http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/9970 , http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/11639.

77 49 percent of Britons support the death penalty (David W. Moore, “Death Penalty Gets Less Support From Britons, Canadians Than Americans,” Gallup Poll News Service, February 20, 2006), For somewhat lower percentages, see http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/10758.

78 In a recent debate over the death penalty, Scalia declared:

What nations are you talking about? You know, public opinion polls in both England and France, at least until very recently, showed that if they had as responsive a democracy as we do, they would still have the death penalty.

I find it so hypocritical, not that the Europeans don’t have the death penalty—fine; although its abolition was imposed by the Court of Human Rights, which said, “You cannot have the death penalty.” So it’s not as though all the Europeans voted to abolish it. It was judicially imposed, and that doesn’t impress me very much.

Source: “ACLU Membership Conference Debate,” Federal News Service, October 15, 2006.

79 “Study Finds 2.6% Increase In U.S. Prison Population,” New York Times, July 28, 2003.

80 The Washington Post makes a similar argument: “It is one of the least-told stories in American crime-fighting. New York, the safest big city in the nation, achieved its now-legendary 70-percent drop in homicides even as it locked up fewer and fewer of its citizens during the past decade. The number of prisoners in the city has dropped from 21,449 in 1993 to 14,129 this past week. That runs counter to the national trend, in which prison admissions have jumped 72 percent during that time” (Michael Powell, “Despite Fewer Lockups, NYC Has Seen Big Drop in Crime,” Washington Post, November 24, 2006; There is a simple explanation for why both prison population and crime can fall in New York. When murders fall by 70 percent, can you really keep on expanding the prison population? Note that the prison population has fallen by a third, but violent crime in the city has fallen by much more than that. The number of prisoners per crime has still gone up dramatically. Or take their example for Idaho. “Perhaps as intriguing is the experience in states where officials spent billions of dollars to build prisons. From 1992 to 2002, Idaho’s prison population grew by 174 percent. the largest percentage increase in the nation. Yet violent crime in that state rose by 14 percent.” It would have been helpful if they had put the numbers in per capita rates, rather than comparing numbers 10 years apart. Idaho’s population grew by more than 14 percent, though less than 174 percent. Thus their crime rate did fall as the prison population grew. Among the academic papers that find an increase in imprisonment leads to less crime, see Thomas Marvell and Carlisle Moody, “Prison Population Growth and Crime Reduction,” Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1994, 109-140.

81 Gordon Tullock, “Does Punishment Deter Crime?” The Public Interest 36 (Summer 1974), 103-11. James Q. Wilson, Thinking About Crime, (New York: Random House, 1985). See a more recent summary in my book, More Guns, Less Crime (2000).

82 David B. Mustard, “Re-examining Criminal Behavior: The Importance of Omitted Variable Bias,” Review of Economics and Statistics, vol. 84, no. 1, 2002.

83 John R. Lott, Jr. and John Whitley, “Abortion and Crime: Unwanted Children and Out-of-Wedlock Births,” Economic Inquiry, April 2001.

84 There is a broad range of private law enforcement. Other papers look at everything from private security guards (see Bruce Benson and Brent D. Mast, “Privately Produced General Deterrence,” Journal of Law and Economics , October 2001) to private enforcement catching those who jump bail (see Eric Helland and Alexander Tabarrok, “The Fugitive: Evidence on public verses private law enforcement form bail jumping,” Journal of Law and Economics, April 2004, 93-122.)

85 While it is difficult to compile precise national statistics for the number of outstanding concealed weapons permits, the following list relates the figures in some states: Florida (549,000) (http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/stats/licensetypecount.html); Pennsylvania (600,000) (http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061217/NEWS/612170334/-1/DATABASE01); Washington (239,000) (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003298710_shootingside11m.html); Ohio (82,144) (http://www.ag.state.oh.us/le/prevention/concealcarry/statistics.asp); Utah (80,000) (http://bci.utah.gov/CFP/Firearm%20Statistical%20Review/firearmrev_200603.pdf); Texas (247,000) (http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/demographics.htm); Virginia (125,020) (Let’s hunt for answers on gun use, Richmond Times-Dispatch, February 15, 2006); Indiana (300,000) (http://www2.indystar.com/articles/1/161649-4651-092.html), Michigan (133,000) (http://www.michigan.gov/documents/msp/ccw_county_report_approved_177644_7.pdf); North Carolina (59,597) (http://sbi2.jus.state.nc.us/crp/public/other/conceal/Sept302004stats.pdf); and South Dakota (41,000) (http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061217/NEWS/612170334/-1/DATABASE01).

86 Permits are particularly popular among celebrities who face a variety of potential security threats: in 2006, Donald Trump, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Howard Stern, and Don Imus were among those holding right-to-carry permits just in New York City. A high rate of permits is also held by professional athletes, including NBA stars Shaquille O’Neal, Paul Pierce, and Vince Carter, and NFL players like Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Santana Moss, Jason Taylor, Bob Sanders, Cato June, Jeff Saturday, and Daunte Culpepper. Even famous coaches such as Barry Switzer and Bobby Knight have carried concealed handguns. See Bob Hohler, “Many players regard firearm as a necessity: Concealed weapon licenses common,” Boston Globe, November 10, 2006; Kenneth Lovett, “Mike to Gun-Permit Holders: