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56 Cornell L. Rev. 57 (1970-1971)
Model of Criminal Process Game Theory and Law

handle is hein.journals/clqv56 and id is 72 raw text is: A MODEL OF CRIMINAL PROCESS: GAME THEORY AND LAW Robert L. Birminghamjt Early ordnance was prized for both destructive and aesthetic prop- erties. During the sixteenth century, Italian craftsmen, although aware of the attendant sacrifice of ballistic efficiency, complemented the en- graving with which they adorned the field pieces they manufactured by decorating the shot itself.' Much discussion of criminal law is analogous to the Italian cannonball; analytic embellishment adds richness in detail but often conceals crucial structural interrelationships. In this article I attempt to use the techniques of game theory to isolate minimal attributes of problems familiar in criminal law. In the first section I construct a model indicating the impact of the criminal law on the actions of prospective malefactors and, by extension, on the welfare of society as a whole; in subsequent sections I explore the implications of this model for public policy. My hope is to achieve clarity through abstractness.2 t Assistant Professor of Law, Indiana University. A.B. 1960, J.D. 1963, Ph.D. 1967, University of Pittsburgh; LL.M. 1965, Harvard University. I C. CrPoLLA, GuNs AND SAILS IN TE EARLY PHASE OF EURoPEAN ExPANsioN 1400-1700, at 43 (1965). 2 Introductory discussion of any field perhaps unfamiliar to the reader is hampered by the propensity of those working in it to develop a specialized vocabulary that prevents accurate definition of any single term without appeal to other terms that are equally unknown; successful explication thus necessarily tempers obscurity with imprecision. Shubik, whose stature as a scholar sanctions expository oversimplification, has provided probably the best preliminary description of the work on which I rely: Game theory is a method for the study of decision making in situations of conflict. It deals with human processes in which the individual decision-unit is not in complete control of other decision units entering into the environment. It is addressed to problems involving conflict, cooperation, or both, at many levels. The decision-unit may be an individual, a group, a formal or an informal organization, or a society.... The essence of a game in this context is that it involves decision makers with different goals or objectives whose fates are intertwined. The individuals are in a situation in which there may be many possible outcomes with different values to them. Although they may have some control which will influence the outcome, they do not have complete control .... ... The individual must consider how to achieve as much as is possible, taking into account that there are others whose goals differ from his own and whose actions have an effect on all.. . . He must adjust his plans not only to

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