Correctional "Free Lunch"? Cost Neglect Increases Punishment in Prosecutors

Area of Science:

• Criminology
• Behavioral Economics
• Public Policy

Background:

• Prosecutors significantly influence judicial sentencing decisions through their recommendations.
• Critics argue prosecutors benefit from a "free lunch" as they are insulated from the financial costs of incarceration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how awareness of sentencing costs affects prosecutors' sentencing recommendations.
• To determine if explicit cost information can influence sentencing behavior and potentially reduce mass incarceration.

Main Methods:

• A nationally distributed survey experiment involving 178 professional prosecutors.
• Participants were divided into groups, with some exposed to sentencing cost information and others not.
• Sentence recommendations were compared between groups.

Main Results:

• Prosecutors insulated from cost information recommended prison sentences nearly one-third longer.
• Exposure to direct cost information significantly reduced sentence recommendation length.
• Presenting a fiscally equivalent benefit of incarceration did not alter recommendations.

Conclusions:

• Prosecutors implicitly consider sentencing costs but neglect them unless explicitly presented.
• Lack of cost awareness among prosecutors may be a significant, unrecognized driver of mass incarceration.
• Making sentencing costs explicit offers a potential strategy for addressing mass incarceration.