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Sassywood

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  • Leeson, Peter T.
  • Coyne, Christopher J.

Abstract

This paper analyzes trial by poison ingestion, or “sassywood,” as an institution of criminal justice in contemporary Liberia. We argue that effective criminal justice institutions must satisfy three conditions: they must be accessible to citizens, incentivize judicial administrators to pursue justice instead of private ends, and generate useful information about accused criminals’ guilt or innocence. Liberia’s formal criminal justice institutions fail to satisfy these conditions. Sassywood does a better job of fulfilling them. Sassywood is more accessible than Liberia’s formal criminal justice institutions. It provides judicial administrators stronger incentives to pursue justice. And, unexpectedly, it is capable of generating useful information about criminal defendants’ guilt or innocence where Liberia’s formal criminal justice institutions didn’t. The theory this paper provides offers a plausible explanation of why sassywood is a sensible institutional substitute for formal Liberian criminal justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Leeson, Peter T. & Coyne, Christopher J., 2012. "Sassywood," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 608-620.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcecon:v:40:y:2012:i:4:p:608-620
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2012.02.002
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    Cited by:

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    2. March, Raymond J., 2017. "Skin in the game: comparing the private and public regulation of isotretinoin," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 649-672, September.
    3. Sobel, Russell S., 2017. "The rise and decline of nations: the dynamic properties of institutional reform 1," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 549-574, September.
    4. Ilia Murtazashvili & Jennifer Murtazashvili, 2015. "Anarchy, self-governance, and legal titling," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 287-305, March.
    5. Peter T. Leeson, 2014. ""God Damn": The Law and Economics of Monastic Malediction," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 193-216.
    6. Lucas, David S. & Fuller, Caleb S., 2017. "Entrepreneurship: Productive, unproductive, and destructive—Relative to what?," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 45-49.
    7. Gershman, Boris, 2015. "The economic origins of the evil eye belief," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 119-144.
    8. Jochem, Torsten & Murtazashvili, Ilia & Murtazashvili, Jennifer, 2016. "Establishing Local Government in Fragile States: Experimental Evidence from Afghanistan," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 293-310.
    9. Vladimir Vladimirovich Maltsev, 2022. "Dynamic anarchy: the evolution and economics of the beguny sect in eighteenth-twentieth century Russia," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 190(1), pages 111-126, January.
    10. James Kostelnik & David Skarbek, 2013. "The governance institutions of a drug trafficking organization," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 156(1), pages 95-103, July.
    11. Manvir Singh & Pascal Boyer & Leeson, Peter T & Mckay Ryan & Bentall, Richard P & Sarah Peacey & Ruth Mace & Schimmelpfennig, Robin & Muthukrishna, Michael, 2021. "Magic, explanations, and evil: the origins and design of witches and sorcerers," Post-Print hal-03256601, HAL.
    12. Palagashvili,Liya & Piano,Ennio & Skarbek,David, 2017. "The Decline and Rise of Institutions," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316649176.
    13. Peter T Leeson, 2014. "Oracles," Rationality and Society, , vol. 26(2), pages 141-169, May.
    14. Murtazashvili, Ilia & Murtazashvili, Jennifer, 2016. "The origins of private property rights: states or customary organizations?," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 105-128, March.
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    16. Peter T. Leeson & Paola A. Suarez, 2015. "Superstition and Self-Governance," Advances in Austrian Economics, in: New Thinking in Austrian Political Economy, volume 19, pages 47-66, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    17. Escalante, Edwar E. & March, Raymond J., 2020. "Fighting on Christmas: brawling as self-governance in rural Peru," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(3), pages 355-368, June.
    18. Colin O’Reilly & Yi Zhang, 2018. "Post‐genocide justice: The Gacaca courts," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(5), pages 561-576, September.
    19. Libman, Alexander & Vollan, Björn, 2015. "Anti-Western conspiracy thinking and expectations of collusion: Evidence from Russia and China," BOFIT Discussion Papers 14/2015, Bank of Finland, Institute for Economies in Transition.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sassywood; Liberia; Ordeals; Superstition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • K14 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Criminal Law
    • K41 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Litigation Process
    • K40 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - General
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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