Deterrence
Definition
A forward-looking aim holding that the threat or experience of punishment discourages future offending. General deterrence targets potential offenders in the population; specific deterrence targets the individual already punished.
Related terms
- Bounded rationality
- The recognition, from behavioural economics and psychology, that human decision-making is rational only within limits set by available information, cognitive capacity, and...
- Certainty of punishment
- The probability that an offence will be detected and lead to punishment. Classical theory and empirical research both identify this as the...
- Classical School
- The eighteenth-century intellectual tradition in criminology, associated with Beccaria and Bentham, that treats offenders as rational actors and argues for proportionate, certain,...
- Denunciation
- The communicative function of punishment: the sentence expresses the community's collective moral condemnation of the act. Rooted in Durkheim's argument that punishment...
- Hedonistic calculus
- Bentham's term for the rational weighing of pleasure against pain. In his framework, legislators should calibrate punishments so the pain of the...
- Incapacitation
- The justification for imprisonment that focuses on preventing crime during the sentence by removing the offender from society, regardless of whether their...
- Proportionality
- The legal principle, central to European human rights law and to many constitutional systems, that any interference with a fundamental right must...
- Rehabilitation
- The aim of changing the offender's attitudes, skills, or circumstances so that they no longer offend. Rehabilitation treats offending as a problem...
- Retribution
- The view that punishment is justified because the offender deserves it, proportionate to the severity of the offence. A backward-looking justification: it...
- Severity of punishment
- The magnitude or harshness of the penalty imposed. Classical theory holds that severity should be proportionate to harm. Modern research finds that...
Explained in these topics
- The Aims of PunishmentA forward-looking aim holding that the threat or experience of punishment discourages future offending. General deterrence targets potential offenders in the p...
- The Classical School and Deterrence TheoryThe prevention of crime through the threat of punishment. General deterrence targets potential offenders in the population at large; specific deterrence target...