The role of experience in deterring crime: A theory of specific versus general deterrence
研究个人经验如何影响对惩罚概率的感知，进而决定威慑效果，区分了亲身经历与观察他人经验的不同作用，对犯罪经济学和刑事政策研究有参考价值。
Abstract This paper examines the role of experience in determining the deterrent effect of criminal punishment. Economic models of crime typically assume potential offenders know the probability of apprehension. Thus, neither the individual's personal experience of being caught and punished nor the observation of someone else's punishment experience affects that individual's future behavior. This paper incorporates a role for experience in determining criminal activity, distinguishing between (1) how individuals form perceptions of the probability of punishment, including how those perceptions are influenced by what they experience or observe, and (2) how those perceptions, once formed, influence their decisions about criminal activity.