This is the first book to examine individual rights from an economic perspective, collecting together leading articles in this emerging area of interest and showing the vibrant and expanding scholarship that relates them. Areas covered include

- The implications of constitutional protections of individual rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and of the press,
- The right to bear arms,
- The right against unreasonable searches,
- The right against self-incrimination,
- The right to trial by jury,
- The right against cruel and unusual punishment, including capital punishment.

The focus of these papers is both theoretical and empirical, examining how economics can illuminate the entire sequence of crime and punishment, from the decision to commit a crime, to police methods for apprehending and arresting criminals, to the rules used in trials to the scope of punishment for the convicted.