Your task for the final case study is begin a cost-benefit analysis and write an evidence-backed, persuasive essay on crime and punishment. You are to take any legislation, executive action, or public policy (historical or present day, United States^* or not) related to crime in a historical, current, or proposed policy context. Provide and economic analysis with evidence on how the total social cost is changed. These costs are broken down into social/external fixed cost of crime, social cost per crime, administrative costs, court costs per crime, enforcement costs, incarceration costs per conviction, etc., but effects need not be on all.

The case should include a brief summary of the law or action, analysis + evidence in the changes of individualcosts, and asummary if you think that the law or action decreases or increases total costs to society.

For instance, if you were to analyze alcohol prohibition in the 1920s in the United States:

Section 1: Describe the historical context for why alcohol was made illegal--what social costs were deemed very high that wanted to be reduced. Summarize the 18th amendment: what was previously legal that is now illegal; how is alcohol possession, consumption, and sales penalized. Describe the intent of the 18th amendment: the idea is to bring down which social costs through which legal or social mechanisms.

Section 2: Outline the changes in costs and benefits. Any numbers, data, and facts must be cited. This section should tie in what the intent of the law was. For instance, if the main goal was to reduce alcohol consumption, make sure you provide evidence that it did or did not actually reduce alcohol consumption using available data/statistics.

Administrative costs: the 18th amendment created a new agency (costs associated), required a reallocation of state and local police budgets, increase in incarceration, reduced alcohol industry consumer and producer surpluses. Provide evidence/data on how large these costs are.

Benefits: reduction in the externalities associated with alcohol consumption. Provide evidence that alcohol consumption fell (at least), that the crimes related to alcohol consumption fell, how many dollars have been saved with evidence/data.

Social costs: increase in black market activity (transfer or surpluses from producer surplus), increase in negative externalities of black market activity. In this context, black market activity would be considered mafia/illegal sales and consumption as well as homemade production and consumption. In this section changes in incentives, or consumption switching should be discussed. Provide evidence that additional costs/externalities we created (at least), how many dollars these costs created.

Section 3: Conclusion if the 18th amendment increased or decrease social costs associated with alcohol consumption. This is ultimately your opinion, but the facts and data supplied in section 2 should lead me to come to the same conclusion. In this context, you may arrive at a conclusion like, "overall social costs increased even though alcohol consumption declined in the US (citation needed). This is due to the increase in the more costly externalities associated with black market activity like violence, lack of quality control, etc."

You have a bit of freedom on how to answer this, but evidence and (strong) economic theory is needed to support your case.

I am looking for what would effectively be a proposal with initial evidence (or where you would at least find evidence) for what could lead to a thesis or publishable paper.