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General Deterrence

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Submitted By dee3319
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Running head: General Deterrence and Crime Prevention

Is General Deterrence Likely to Reduce Crime?

Diane Fric
Student Number: 996148039
Sociology 211
University of Toronto Mississauga
February 2, 2012

The prevention of crime has become a main concern within societies throughout the world today. An understanding of the term “general deterrence” is important in understanding this paper. General deterrence can be defined as “the belief that people, in general, can be prevented from engaging in crime by punishing specific individuals and make examples of them” (Keel, 2005). General deterrence was first introduced in the 1970’s by a criminologist named Cesare Beccaria (Deuschmann 2007). Beccaria thought that the legal system should focus more on preventing crime from occurring rather than punishment. Many societies continue to use general deterrence when trying to prevent crime. The oldest and most frequently used crime prevention is deterrence through imprisonment. Societies believe that tougher and harsher sentences are the best and only responses to crime. According to criminologists, “people will engage in criminal and deviant activities if they do not fear apprehension and punishment” (Keel, 2005). In order for crime to be deterred, laws and enforcement are used to raise an individual’s awareness stating that criminal behaviour will result in punishment and attention (Keel, 2005). For general deterrence to be successful, factors other than fear of punishment need to be incorporated as well. Although, it is argued that general deterrence is ineffective and does not eliminate crime.
According to the deterrence theory, a criminal act can be defined as “an individual’s rational choice to maximize pleasure, while minimizing pain” (Williams & McShane, 1994). The Deterrence Theory developed by Beccaria and Bentham stated that “all individuals have

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