Crime is a major issue in the American society as well as societies all over the world. The only way to rid ourselves of crime is to have a big enough deterrent that will stop people from committing those crimes. “Criminal Punishments are measures, usually designed to be unpleasant, which are imposed by governmental authorities on persons who have been convicted of violating provisions of applicable criminal laws.” (Criminal Punishments) Each crime has a different level of response that is needed for instance you are not going to give someone the death penalty for running a stop sign and you are not going to give an Ax murder a warning and send them on their way. Ensuring that the proper deterrent is applied for each crime is an important factor to insuring that a person will not commit the crime again. The theory of deterrence comes from the idea that the punishment must be as severe as the crime committed. Additionally, the punishment has to be given to the criminal so that the punishment is viewed as a result of the crime. When the act of punishment stops one from committing crimes, this is called "general deterrence." There is another form of deterrence, which is "specific deterrence," referring to the inability of criminals to commit additional crimes after punishment has been served. It is completely obvious and clear that capital punishment is classified as a specific deterrent, because the criminal will be dead; therefore, crimes will no longer be committed. Nonetheless, capital punishment is a controversial topic discussed by all people, who cannot come to an agreement whether capital punishment is more effective than spending one’s life in prison (Introduction to Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?).
There are many different types of deterrence for committing crimes. The punishments include rehabilitation, retribution, deterrence, and societal protection. “The oldest justification for punishment is to satisfy a society’s need for retribution, an act of moral vengeance by which society makes the offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime.” (Society: The Basics) “A second justification for punishment is deterrence, the attempt to discourage criminality through the use of punishment.” (Society: The Basics) “The third justification for punishment, rehabilitation, is a program for reforming the offender to prevent later offenses.” (Society: The Basics) The last punishment one could receive is societal protection, which means that the criminal can no longer interact with society, or receive execution.” (Society: The Basics)
I think that the societal protection is the type of punishment that deters crime most effectively. By taking a person’s ability to move freely in society and placing them in a cell or even sentencing them to death is a penalty people do not take lightly. It is a serious punishment that people would not want to take for any crime. The punishment can be very harsh and that is why it is mainly for the more serious crimes like murder or any offence that may cause harm to the general public. “Currently, 2 million people are imprisoned in the United States. In response to tougher public attitudes and an increasing number of drug-related arrests, the U.S. prison population has tripled since 1980.” (reading) Also by sentencing offenders to jail sentencing it temporarily or completely stops them from continuing their illegal behaviors and helps the general populace from being harmed or influenced by that person.
The consequences and repercussions of punishment provide many advantages for society as well as the criminal who has been charged. The reason that it helps the offender is because it will help deter them from committing the same crime again because of counseling or the offenders desire to stay out of prison and not pay fines. There are now many programs that can help a person to stop committing crimes and live out a normal life. Since the prisons continue to overflow there is a need for rehabilitation outside of the prison system. If a person chooses to embrace the rehabilitation then they will be able to become a better person in society. The reason that it benefits the society is because if the deterrent helps the offender not commit the crime again the society will not have to become endangered by that person again. It also helps the society by keeping their families safe by taking the offenders off the street and placing them in jails indefinitely or at least some time keeping the general populace safer.

In conclusion, the current deterrence’s set by the United States if an excellent way to reduce crime but some crimes in America should have harsher penalties to ensure our societies continued safety. “The final decades of the twentieth century witnessed a dramatic rise in American prison and jail populations. Between 1980 and 2000, jail populations tripled, and prison populations quadrupled. Much of this increase reflected the effects of the War on Drugs and other increases in law enforcement activity and criminal caseloads. However, adult arrest rates leveled off after 1989, but inmate populations continued to rise—prison populations almost doubled, in the following decade. Through most of the 1980s and 1990s, crime and punishment were important political issues, and elected officials became extremely reluctant to support any policy that an opponent could characterize as “soft on crime.” Crime stories in the media also became much more frequent during this period, creating the false impression that crime rates were rising. All of these forces led many states, in the early 1990s, to adopt much more punitive sentencing laws, particularly for violent crimes and repeat offenders. “ (Criminal Punishments) If more people were sentenced to things like community service when they have committed an offence it would better our society because of the work that was accomplished as well as make that person think twice before committing a crime that could cause them to lose money and time. Deterrence’s for crimes can both be positive as well as negative for society if a person is wrongfully accused and prosecuted for a crime that they did not commit it can bring a negative impact on the judicial system. So an important part of setting up deterrents for crimes is ensuring that the correct person is being sentenced to these punishments.