Deterrence - The Concept, A Historical Perspective, Empirical And Ethical Questions, General Deterrence: Myth Or Reality?

Deterrence - The Concept

The narrow sense: fear of punishment. In a narrow sense, deterrence can be defined as the prevention of socially undesirable behavior by fear of punishment. A person who might otherwise have committed a crime is restrained by the thought of the unpleasant consequences of detection, trial, conviction, and sentence ("simple deterrence"). A distinction is often made between general dete…

Deterrence - A Historical Perspective

Historically, deterrence has been, along with retribution, the primary purpose of punishment. The deterrent purpose has often led to penalties that, to contemporary minds, seem cruel and inhuman. Capital punishment and corporal punishment were the backbone of the systems of criminal justice up to the late eighteenth century. Executions were made public spectacles, and cruel methods of execution we…

Deterrence - Empirical And Ethical Questions

In discussing deterrence one is confronted with two categories of questions. One category consists of empirical or factual questions: Does deterrence work, and if so, how well, in which fields, and under what circumstances? Another category consists of ethical questions: To what extent is the purpose of deterrence a valid moral basis for lawmaking, sentencing, and the execution of sentences? A pen…

Deterrence - General Deterrence: Myth Or Reality?

The strongest basis for the belief in deterrence is the eminent plausibility of the theory from the viewpoint of common sense. That the foresight of unpleasant consequences is a strong motivating factor is a familiar experience of everyday life. It would be a bold statement that this well-known mechanism of motivation is of no importance in the decision to commit or not commit an offense. Most off…

Deterrence - Factors In Deterrence

Severity and credibility of the threat. According to common sense, the motivating force of the threat of punishment will normally increase with the severity of the penalty and the risk of detection and conviction. It is a fair assumption that most offenses would not have been committed if the potential offender foresaw a 50 percent risk of being detected and receiving a severe prison sentence. Eve…

Deterrence - Methods Of Research

In spite of the great importance accorded deterrence in lawmaking and sentencing, deterrence remained a neglected field of research until about 1970, in part because of ideology and in part because of great methodological difficulties. In subsequent years research activity has been intense. Most of the research falls under the following categories. Comparison over time. The most straightforward me…

Deterrence - Limits Of Research

The stream of research papers and the accompanying theoretical discussions have above all clarified the methodological problems and illustrated the limitations of different research methods. The research has produced fragments of knowledge that can be of use to check and supplement commonsense reasoning, which will have to be relied on for a long time to come. There is a long way to go before rese…

Deterrence - Deterrence And Public Sentiment

Deterrence - Bibliography

——. "General Prevention Revisited: Research and Policy Implications." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 66 (1975): 338–365. ——. "The Scandinavian Experience." In Social Control of the Drinking Driver. Edited by Michael D. Lawrence, John R. Snortum, and Franklin E. Zimring. University of Chicago Press, 1988. ——. Regu…