INSTRUCTOR DISCUSSION NOTES:
Welcome Back to the Bosom of Society…and by the way, That'll Be $127,000.

1.Describe some opportunity costs associated with incarceration.

Answers may vary. Given these additional fees, though, opportunity costs are clearly increasing.

2.What are some explicit costs associated with incarceration, and how do they differ from any external costs? Do you see any differences between the two?

Answers may vary. Students should see a distinction, though, between explicit costs, which accrue to the criminal, and external costs, which accrue to society as a whole.

3.Discuss the efficiency of forcing poor criminals to pay their own expenses for their judicial and penal costs.

Answers may vary. Emphasis should be placed on both the notion of the individual paying restitution for their crime, as well as forcing individuals to pay expenses that they may never be able to afford to pay-and whether this inability to pay may encourage further crimes.

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