Economist at the University of Chicago who developed the theory of rational crime in the 1960s. He began thinking about the topic when, running late to examine a PhD student at Columbia University, he weighed the odds of getting caught parking illegally and the fine he would incur against the inconvenience of driving farther in search of a space. He then considered how the city must have made a similar calculation in setting the level of the fine.
At the time most discussion of crime fixated on the depravity of criminals. Becker argued instead that some people became criminals "not because their basic motivation differs from that of other persons" but because the benefits to them exceeded the potential costs. He laid out the interaction between the benefits of crime to the perpetrators, the costs of enforcement and punishment, deducing that the most rational approach for society is to optimise for deterrence. Ideally, the marginal loss to a victim from a crime should equal the marginal cost of enforcement. Such reasoning favours decent enforcement and meaty fines over jail time, because the costs are lower.
There is no cure for birth and death other than to enjoy the interval.