NCJ Number
124334
Journal
Journal of Legal Studies Volume: 1 Dated: (September 1972) Pages: 424-436
Date Published
1972
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Data on police employment and expenditures and offenses cleared by arrest formed the basis of an empirical test of a theoretical framework for an economic analysis of law enforcement services.
Abstract
The theoretical framework entailed a production function that related the output of a law enforcement agency, in its handling of major felonies, to the numbers of those felonies and to the main resources used in law enforcements. The analysis also tried to measure the effectiveness of police activity. The data covered the economic crimes of auto theft, burglary, larceny, and robbery using official crime data for United States cities of more than 2,500 population from 1952 to 1967. Information on the numbers of law enforcement employees and the non-payroll expenditures was also used. Findings confirmed the usefulness of utility theory and production theory to provide a framework for analyzing law enforcement. Results also suggested that the deterioration in law enforcement effectiveness may be largely a problem of resource allocation. Tables, footnotes, and appended methodological information and additional tables.