Crime Deterrence

Crime Deterrence

Purposes of Imprisonment Societal Protection and Crime Deterrence

Introduction to Crime Deterrence

Locking up dangerous criminals or persistent nonviolent offenders means that society will be protected from them for the duration of their sentences. Thus, imprisoning criminals temporarily incapacitates them. Additionally, people expect that prisons will cause inmates to regret their criminal acts, and that when most prisoners are released they will be deterred from committing future crimes. Incarceration of criminals may also deter other individuals from engaging in criminal behavior due to the fear of punishment.

However, it is not possible to lock up all offenders who deserve to be incarcerated. Some criminals are never captured. Due to space and budget constraints, even those who are caught cannot all be imprisoned. Experts disagree about the relationship between the amount of people imprisoned and the amount of crime that occurs. Changes in the number of people imprisoned may reflect actual fluctuations in the amount of crime being committed. However, both figures may also be influenced by independent factors. To some degree, rates of imprisonment indicate how much space is available to accommodate offenders, rather than how much crime is being committed.

The United States has one of the world’s highest crime rates, as well as the world’s highest rate of incarceration. (To obtain current incarceration figures, refer to the table titled “Prison Population in the United States” accompanying this article or go to the Web site of the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.) At the present rate of incarceration, more than five times the number of existing prisons (and those currently under construction) would be required to incarcerate all those convicted of crimes in the United States. Under a process known as selective incapacitation, the criminal justice system attempts to decide which offenders are most in need of incarceration. Legal factors-such as prior record, type of crime committed, and whether the crime involved injuries or death to victims-help to determine the appropriate sentence length or other punishment. However, different state and federal laws and practices create sentencing disparities. For example, some nonviolent and unthreatening offenders are incarcerated, whereas some dangerous offenders are placed on probation.

Furthermore, experts disagree about whether imprisoning criminals actually prevents further crime. Some critics charge that American prisons simply warehouse violence-meaning that U.S. prison inmates are confined and incapacitated in large numbers, with little or no effort made to rehabilitate them. Critics have labeled the result of this process turnstile justice, referring to the fact that most inmates are chronic and persistent offenders and return to prison following conviction for new crimes.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to Crime Deterrence


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