Law Commons^™

Criminal Law And Population Control, Kent Greenawalt

Faculty Scholarship

Several important questions can be asked about criminal law and the population problem. One is how greatly overpopulation, with its contribution to poverty and urban crowding, is a cause of crime, and, obversely, the extent to which population control would be a form of crime control. Another question is how much population growth increases the range of behavior that is and should be covered by criminal sanctions. Although these and other questions deserve attention, the purpose of this article is more modest – to consider possible changes in criminal law that could help ease the population problem.