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Deterrence aims to prevent crime by establishing clear consequences for criminal activities. It can focus on individuals or populations, but its effectiveness is debated. Opponents argue that people may not consider the consequences in desperate situations, while proponents believe it can make society more law-abiding.
Deterrence involves establishing clear consequences for criminal activities that are designed to make people think twice before engaging in such activities. The idea behind this approach is that people will be deterred from committing crimes by the knowledge that they will be arrested and punished. Because people often want to avoid punishment, they may choose not to commit a crime at all rather than run the risk of getting caught. This theory has been debated among psychologists and jurists, some of whom question whether or not it is effective.
The practice of deterrence can focus on both specific individuals and populations at large. For example, police officers can use a mobile radar truck to send alerts to all drivers about their speed to act as a speeding deterrent for the general population. They can also fine individual drivers to penalize them for speeding, reminding drivers that there are penalties for speeding, and the ticket can also act as a deterrent to re-offending because the ticket driver wants to avoid another ticket.
People who oppose this approach as an effective method of tackling crime point to the fact that despite well-established deterrence-based systems, crime rates remain high in many regions of the world. If deterrence were truly effective, rates would be expected to decrease in areas where punishments are swift and harsh and people are regularly reminded of the consequences for criminal actions. In fairness though, rates can be kept lower than they otherwise would be with the assistance of this method, and the only way to find out for sure would be to remove deterrence from the legal system.
Opponents of deterrence believe that people may not think about the consequences when they are desperate or acting in the heat of the moment. Others may believe they can evade punishment; to borrow the example of drivers from above, for example, drivers might slow down to the speed limit when they know law enforcement is around.
Proponents believe that deterrence can be effective, providing costs that outweigh the benefits of criminal activity. While deterrence may not work on specific individuals, it can act to make society at large more law-abiding. Controlling the many factors that influence criminal behavior can be difficult, but proponents believe that deterrence is one of the things that keeps crime rates from rising.
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