The Behavioral Code: The Hidden Ways the Law Makes Us Better … or Worse

Freakonomics for the law—the revolutionary behavioral science insights into how the law fails to reduce misbehavior.   Why do some laws radically change behavior whereas others are consistently ignored and routinely broken? Why do we keep relying on harsh punishment against crime even though it continues to fail? Professors Benjamin van Rooij and Adam Fine present the first accessible analysis of behavioral jurisprudence, which will fundamentally alter how we understand the connection between law and human behavior. Drawing upon decades of research, the authors reveal the behavioral code: the root causes and hidden forces that drive human behavior and our responses to society’s laws. The Behavioral Code offers a necessary and different approach to battling crime and injustice that is based in understanding the science of human misconduct—rather than relying on punishment to shape behavior. The book will show how this code affects all of us using illustrative examples like: · Park rangers in Arizona’s Petrified Forest who worked with social psychologists to reduce theft—beginning by throwing out “no stealing” signs · German walls that “pee back” at public urinators · A $2.3 billion legal settlement against Pfizer that revealed how whistleblower protections fail to reduce corporate malfeasance · NYC subway ads that reduced manspreading · How Richmond, California, reduced gun violence by offering young firearm offenders $1,000 monthly rewards for good behavior Revelatory and counterintuitive, The Behavioral Code catalyzes the conversation about how the law can effectively improve human conduct and respond to some of our most pressing issues today, from police misconduct to corporate malfeasance.