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"Cooperation's Cost"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this great-looking new piece from Professor Miriam Baer. Here is the abstract: This Article explores the costs and benefits of criminal cooperation, the widespread practice by which prosecutors offer criminal defendants reduced sentences in exchange for their assistance in apprehending other criminals. On one hand, cooperation increases the likelihood that criminals will be detected and prosecuted successfully. This is the ?Detection Effect? of cooperation, and it has long been cited as the policy?s primary justification. On the other hand, cooperation also reduces the expected sanction for offenders who believe they can cooperate if caught. This is the Sanction Effect of cooperation, and it may grow substantially if the government signs up too many cooperators, sentences them too generously, or causes them to become overly optimistic about their chances of receiving a cooperation agreement...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 02, 2010 (boomark / email).