What is a general deterrent?

General" deterrence refers to the effects of legal punishment on the general public (potential offenders), and "specific" deterrence refers to the effects of legal punishment on those individuals who actually undergo the punishment.


What are examples of general deterrence?

Examples of general deterrence from fear of direct sanctions are (1) refraining from speeding for fear of a fine, (2) refraining from a felony for fear of incarceration, and (3) refraining from murder for fear of ex- ecution.

What are the two types of deterrent?

A distinction has been drawn between two types of deterrence: individual (or specific) and general deterrence.


What is a deterrent to crime?

Deterrence is the theory that criminal penalties do not just punish violators, but also discourage other people from committing similar offenses. Many people point to the need to deter criminal actions after a high-profile incident in which an offender is seen to have received a light sentence.

Does general deterrence work?

Studies show that for most individuals convicted of a crime, short to moderate prison sentences may be a deterrent but longer prison terms produce only a limited deterrent effect. In addition, the crime prevention benefit falls far short of the social and economic costs.


Do The Death Penalty And Longer Prison Sentences Deter Crime?



What are the three types of deterrence?

According to references on deterrence theory, effective deterrence involves three key components: severity, certainty, and celerity.
  • Severity. Severity involves making a punishment harsh enough that an audience will be fearful of receiving it. ...
  • Certainty. ...
  • Celerity.


What are the three components of general deterrence?

Deterrence theory works on these three key elements: certainty, celerity, and severity, in incremental steps. First, by making certain, or at least making the public think that their offenses are not going to go unpunished, then there will be a deterrent factor.

What is general deterrence focus?

On the other hand, general deterrence suggests that the general population will be deterred from offending when they are aware of others being apprehended and punished. Both specific and general deterrence, how ever, are grounded in individuals' perceptions regarding severity, certainty, and celerity of punishment.


How is general deterrence measured?

General deterrence is typically measured in terms of community-wide changes in offending behaviour, while specific deterrence is measured by re-offence or recidivism rates. However, recidivism can be conceptualised in a number of different ways.

What are the four types of deterrence?

Key Takeaways
  • Specific deterrence prevents crime by frightening an individual defendant with punishment. ...
  • Incapacitation prevents crime by removing a defendant from society.
  • Rehabilitation prevents crime by altering a defendant's behavior.
  • Retribution prevents crime by giving victims or society a feeling of avengement.


Is the death penalty specific or general deterrence?

“The death penalty is not a deterrent despite the claims of its proponents. In 2012 the National Research Council concluded that the studies claiming it is a deterrence were fundamentally flawed.


Why is general deterrence important?

Deterrence: As a purpose of sentencing, deterrence aims to prevent crime through the example of offenders being punished. General deterrence is directed at preventing crime among the general population, while specific deterrence is aimed at preventing future crimes by a particular offender.

Why does general deterrence not work?

Increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime. Laws and policies designed to deter crime by focusing mainly on increasing the severity of punishment are ineffective partly because criminals know little about the sanctions for specific crimes.

Do Christians believe in deterrence?

While Christians don't agree with this aim, they do believe that punishment is important, it is more important to achieve other aims with punishment. Deterrence: Many believe that if offenders see that crimes are punished severely then it should put them off from committing those crimes.


What does deterrent mean in law?

Before a person commits a crime, they may fear imprisonment and therefore refrain from committing future crimes – this is imprisonment as a deterrent. General deterrence is the intention to deter the general public from committing crimes by punishing those who commit crimes.

What is a deterrent sentence?

They have all been given sentences designed to deter others from committing similar offences in the future. It could be argued, based on the normal harm and culpability principles, that they should have faced lower sentences or, indeed, avoided prison – yet the principle of 'general deterrence' seemed to override that.

How can punishment be a deterrent?

Individual deterrence is the aim of punishment to discourage the offender from criminal acts in the future. The belief is that when punished, offenders recognise the unpleasant consequences of their actions on themselves and will change their behaviour accordingly.


What is a deterrent threat?

Deterrence is the threat of force in order to discourage an opponent from taking an unwelcome action. This can be achieved through the threat of retaliation (deterrence by punishment) or by denying the opponent's war aims (deterrence by denial).

What's the difference between a deterrent and a repellent?

Among the five standard terms, Dethier et al. (1960) defined a repellent as a chemical that causes insects to make oriented movement away from its source, and a deterrent as a chemical that inhibits feeding or oviposition when present in a place where insects would, in its absence, feed or oviposit.

What is general deterrence quizlet?

general deterrence. aims to have an impact on more than the single offender; the apprehension and punishment of a single individual serves as an example to other offenders and potential law violators. specific deterrence. efforts that keep an individual offender from violating the law again in the future.


What is the difference between general deterrence and specific deterrence quizlet?

What is the key difference between general deterrence and specific deterrence? General deterrence sets an example for society at large, whereas specific deterrence focuses only on the individual being punished.

Which is the best example of a deterrent measure?

General deterrence tries to send a message to the public by making the public fearful of the consequences of committing a crime, and therefore, less likely to commit a crime. Mandatory license revocation for repeat driving-while-intoxicated offenses is one example of general deterrence.

What strategy is used for deterrence?

deterrence, military strategy under which one power uses the threat of reprisal effectively to preclude an attack from an adversary power. With the advent of nuclear weapons, the term deterrence largely has been applied to the basic strategy of the nuclear powers and of the major alliance systems.


What is the meaning of deterrent theory?

Deterrence theory holds that nuclear weapons are intended to deter other states from attacking with their nuclear weapons, through the promise of retaliation and possibly mutually assured destruction.