| Summary: |
This article investigates the impact of non-state legal institutions on crime
by exploiting differences in pre-colonial legal institutions. In relation to criminal
law, it is suggested that colonisation can be best characterised as the imposition of
almost identical criminal law on a diverse set of pre-existing legal institutions; in
this sense, this analysis inverts the legal origins and institutions literature. Given
that remnants of pre-colonial institutions persist, it is suggested that the type of precolonial legal institution should have a direct effect on state crime control and the
crime rate. This is so, as societies that were relatively stateless prior to colonisation
are more likely to have high magnitude non-state sanctions that can act as substitutes for state punishments, but the presence of such non-state legal institutions
also reduces the productivity of state enforcement, contributing to an overall
increase in crime. This is tested using a measure for pre-colonial institutions on a
dataset of 86 post-colonial states. Private enforcement of high magnitude punishments, despite the deterrent effect, results in a net increase in crime. |
