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Most people do not want to end up in prison and so they are deterred from committing crimes that might be punished that way.Ī key assumption underlying deterrence theory is that offenders weigh up the pros and cons of a certain course of action and make rational choices. When an offender is punished by, for example, being sent to prison, a clear message is sent to the rest of society that behaviour of this sort will result in an unpleasant response from the criminal justice system. General deterrence is the intention to deter the general public from committing crime by punishing those who do offend. The belief is that when punished, offenders recognise the unpleasant consequences of their actions on themselves and will change their behaviour accordingly. Individual deterrence is the aim of punishment to discourage the offender from criminal acts in the future.
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There are two main goals of deterrence theory.
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Two different aspects of punishment may have an impact on deterrence, the first being the certainty of punishment, by increasing the likelihood of apprehension and punishment, this may have a deterrent effect. Ĭriminal deterrence theory has two possible applications: the first is that punishments imposed on individual offenders will deter or prevent that particular offender from committing further crimes the second is that public knowledge that certain offences will be punished has a generalised deterrent effect which prevents others from committing crimes. It is one of five objectives that punishment is thought to achieve the other four objectives are denunciation, incapacitation (for the protection of society), retribution and rehabilitation. Deterrence in relation to criminal offending is the idea or theory that the threat of punishment will deter people from committing crime and reduce the probability and/or level of offending in society.