Political Economy of Criminal Procedure

Keith N. Hylton, Boston University School of Law
Vikramaditya S. Khanna

Abstract

This chapter presents a public choice theory of criminal procedure. The core idea is that criminal procedure is best understood as a set of rules designed to thwart attempts to use the state's law enforcement power in a predatory fashion or in order to transfer wealth generally. For the most part we focus on a set of core procedural protections that can be considered long-established norms.