On Legal Behavior

Abstract This chapter discusses how the law influences behavior. It looks at situations where people may obey (or disobey) the law as well as those where people merely use (or fail to make use of) the law. The impact of law depends upon how the law is communicated to affected people and their knowledge of it. The bulk of the chapter discusses the complicated relationship between sanctions (both rewards and punishments) and behavior, with a focus on specific and general deterrence and the deterrence curve. The final part of the chapter discusses the history of capital punishment and death row in the United States.