An Economic View of Criminal Justice (<Special Issue>Treatment of Offenders in an Aging Society with a Declining Birthrate:Sustainable and Socially Inclusive Criminal Justice Policy in Japan)

Abstract

"Economic Imperialism" does not yet seem to prevail in the field of Japanese criminal justice policy. The reason is the strong resistance of Japanese legal professionals to analyzing criminal justice issues using the conceptual tools of economics, such as a cost-benefit analysis. Criminal justice issues, however, are not completely resolved just by putting bad people into jail. There are tremendous costs for criminal investigations, trials, and keeping inmates locked up, which can be doubled or tripled as a result of the failure of ex-convicts to be rehabilitated. Although the economic viewpoint does not have an absolute advantage in every respect, a social policy lacking in a sense of rationality, incentive, and efficiency will not be sustainable and will end in collapse. This paper considers the Japanese institutional systems of punishment, a criminal case, correction in jails, and a rehabilitation process from the economic viewpoint.