Private compliance and public interest outcomes: Coproduction and public policy goals in public safety promotion programs

All public policies are based on a set of underlying behavioral assumptions. In the case of criminal laws, these assumptions constitute the policy makers' understanding of the "cause" of the criminal behavior in question. Where that understanding is misguided or incomplete, the probability that a policy will be successful in meeting its stated goals is greatly reduced. The application of the criminal sanction in the case of "folk crimes" is likely a case in point.; This dissertation examines the behavioral correlates of compliance with traffic safety laws from the two separate theoretical perspectives of deterrence and coproduction. The relative weakness of deterrence theory in explaining compliance with such laws, and the relative strength of variables derived from coproduction theory to do so, suggests that policy makers would do well to design policies in this area with the understanding that compliance decisions only faintly reflect a rational deterrence calculation of the benefits and costs of violation. Statutes and implementation strategies would do well to take into account the considerable potential of getting the citizenry to assist directly in the process of producing public goods by means of relevant independent actions. Moreover, social scientists who study public policy would be well advised to approach their work with an open and critical mind concerning the behavioral assumptions which underlie their own analysis and the public policies which constitute their subject of study.