fact that the sanction imposed on an offender depends on whether he was convicted previously. In particular, some authors such as Rubinstein (1980) and Polinsky and Rubinfeld (1991) have argued that a record of prior offenses provides information about the offender's characteristics (e.g., a higher-than-average propensity to commit crimes). However, Shavell (2004) has pointed out that making sanctions depend on offense history may be advantageous even when there are no characteristics to be learned about. In particular, Shavell (2004, p. 529) argues that when "detection of a violation implies not only an immediate sanction, but also a higher sanction for a future violation, an individual will be deterred more from committing a violation presently". Building on Shavell's (2004) insights, Müller and Schmitz (2015) show that it may actually be optimal to further amplify the overdeterrence of repeat offenders when exogenous restrictions on penalties for first-time offenders are relaxed. See also Bastøy Prison Habitual offender Incapacitation (penology) Incarceration Incarceration in Norway Serial killer Serial offender hunting patterns Addiction References External links Higher Education in Prison at Hudson link Recidivism in Finland 1993–2001 United States Recidivism Statistics Prisoner Recidivism Bureau of Justice Statistics recidivism.com Curated articles and data Criminology Psychopathy Penology fr:Récidive (droit français)