A Study on the Economics of Rape and Suggested Improvements

The economics approach to law (hereinafter referred to as Law and Economics) is a stream of legal science that utilizes economic analysis in answering three major questions: (i) the definition of law; (ii) the origin of the law and the way in which the law came into force; and (iii) criteria for good law (Mercuro and Medema, 2006. 5). The Law and Economics approach is based on the basic assumption that humans are rational beings and always try to maximize the benefits (or utility) they can receive by considering the scarcity of the resources they have (Posner, 2011, 3). Thus, every human being is assumed to take into account the elements of gain and loss in every action. The calculation of profits and losses does not mean that every human being consciously performs a complex and deep calculation for each of his actions, but it can also be calculated subconsciously (Becker, 1990, 7). Furthermore, it does not imply that every human being must receive all available facts before making a decision (Posner, 2011, 4). The Law and Economics method focuses on the repercussions that will result from the aforementioned human nature and how it will affect the law, rather than on the degree of human cognition (Posner, 2011, 3). In this article, I take a Legal and Economic approach to evaluate the crime of rape, including the character of rape perpetrators, variables that impact rape, and policies that might be implemented to prevent or lower rape crime rates. In passing, I demonstrate that the attire worn by women plays a minor role in the crime of rape using a Legal and Economic method. People are even more removed from the primary issues that need to be addressed as a result of the argument.