Deterrence Theory In Criminal Justice

Improved Essays
Laws, rules, and new ideas are always being put into action in an attempt to deter the criminal yet they rarely ever reduce serious crime. Attempting to deter the criminal by placing more officers on the ground, implementing longer jail and prison sentences, or fear tactics have proved to solve the issue of deterring the criminal. Many offenders feel they are invincible and therefore no threat exists for them and will continue the behavior. I am pretty confident that most criminals do not make conscious decisions since a large majority of them are stealing, robbing, and resorting to violence in an effort to support a drug habit.
Walker (2015) cites four problems associated with the deterrence theory; communicating the message, understanding
…show more content…
The loophole perception is grossly misunderstood and rarely utilized with the exception of plea bargaining. Plea bargaining is an effective measure in criminal justice system and is how most cases are resolved. A defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge or bargains for a shorter sentence. Surprisingly the insanity pleas and filing of appeals are rarely utilized if they succeed but the media plays this up in celebrated cases giving the illusion that this is a major …show more content…
134). There are many surveys on the use and abuse of drugs that provide information on the statistics and background of drug users. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health along with Monitoring the Future Study has provided information about the use of drugs by adolescents and adults. Data from these studies suggest that, “patterns of drug use increase rapidly during adolescence, peak with early adulthood, and then decline” (p. 194). Drug experimentation begins during adolescence as means to display independence, but early adulthood use often represents more independence and lack of parental authority. Additionally there is a misconception that individual’s from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, African Americans, and Hispanics are predisposed to utilize illegal drugs during adolescence. In actuality whites are utilizing illegal substances at higher rates during adolescence but as they age the trend shifts to those with lower levels of education, rural areas, inner cities which often is correlated with African Americans and Hispanics. Legal drugs show slight similarities to illegal drugs. Alcohol use peaks around the age of 21 as adults become of legal drinking age, this pattern is fairly universal with respect to gender and race. Mosher & Akins (2014) report, “The abuse of psychoactive prescription drugs…has increased substantially over the last twenty years” in

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Despite this there are several identifiable populations of “users” that must be continually addressed in various communities throughout the country. But the usage of drug usage it’s self most likely predates society as it is known today, beginning with forage and gathering experimentation to the drug labs of modernity. The interpretation of the results of various surveys and research over the past twenty years as been complied as a basis for the 2014 United Sates Drug Control Policy goals of prevention. With the intention to “avoid the consequences of drug use among youth” (2014, p. 7) and notably reduce the numbers of substance abusers in the long term. This encompasses a variety of drug categories ranging from to depressants to hallucinogens which requires that proposed programs be tailored to a drug of choice or adaptable.…

    • 1480 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Criminal Deterrence Theory

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Terrorism is a gigantic problem in our world today. The truth is, as big of a problem as it’s become; it is still one of the least understood topics in law enforcement. The research in this area is very controversial, and is widely disagreed upon by scholars, so I thought I’d take this time to apply some modern criminal deterrence theories to terrorism. One of the major problems with terrorism is that it’s not easily observed. The American Psychological Association states, “terrorists aren't likely to volunteer as experimental subjects, and examining their activities from afar can lead to erroneous conclusions.…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nonmedical Prescription drugs among college students Prescription drugs abuse among college student is on the increase everyday. “The rise in illicit prescription drugs are among college age youths. 1 in 4 college students have used prescription drugs illicitly.…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Specific Deterrence Specific deterrence is a method used in the criminal justice system to discourage convicted offenders, from reoffending, through the use of severe punishment. However, it can be argued that this is not an effective technique to deter criminals from repeating their offences. As demonstrated in D’Souza’s case, he was constantly involved in criminal activity throughout his adolescence, despite the severity of his punishment. Siegel & McCormick (2016) agree that the juvenile justice facilities have a minor effect on deterring youth from delinquent behaviour (p.146).…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Addiction Treatment Gap

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Twenty-three million Americans are facing a drug addiction, according to a “Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap” (CATG) review. That’s roughly 8% of the population of the United States that are facing addiction. According to Enlightenment philosophers, the environment plays a significant role in the turnout of the individual. There are many factors that affect the risk of an adolescent becoming one of the eight percent. The risk of generational drug abuse is affected by a combination of one’s socioeconomic status (SES), the brain’s processing of certain chemicals, and epigenetic inheritance from the parent.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Analyzing the graph, each increase of users of drugs increases with each grade level; 12th grade with 49% of students using illegal drugs and 8th grade containing 20% of students using drugs (Kornblum and Seccombe, 2017). Since 2000, the use of illegal drugs has decreased; however, the last six years have shown as steady incline (Kornblum and Seccombe, 2017). Women are less likely to use drugs the men are and younger individuals are more likely to par-take in drugs then older individuals (Kornblum and Seccombe, 2017). All different socioeconomic groups are…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are numerous practices that are used in the criminal justice system. Professionals need to determine which theoretical approaches works best to help the system. Searching empirical studies and then utilizing that information can help determine the best theoretical practices. Correctional facilities should use different practices for restorative justice, crime prevention, and corrections to improve our criminal justice system. Defining different theoretical approaches can also improve rehabilitative services in correctional facilities.…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For one to be deterred from committing a felony such as a form of robbery, then they must be deterred by a form of specific and general deterrence. Any kind of deterrence has 3 main properties; severity, certainty and celerity (Sacco and Kennedy, 2010). Severity refers to the seriousness of the penalty, certainty is the reference to the likelihood of being punished for act and celerity is the swiftness in which the offender is apprehended and punished (Clark, 1988) (Sacco and Kennedy, 2010). Furthermore, specific deterrence is the way individuals are deterred from offending or re-offending by being punished by the law, whilst general deterrence refer to the ways individuals are deterred by witnessing others being punished for breaking the…

    • 280 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Deterrence does not seem to work well in the modern criminal justice system. According to an article by Tyjen Tsai and Paola Scommegna, the United States has the highest amount of people incarcerated in the world (Tsai, Scommegna, 2012). This means that obviously, people are not being deterred correctly because they continue to break laws and get arrested. Deterrence should make the punishment swift, severe, and certain and can deter generally and specifically (Gibbs, 1979 p. 653). In modern day, people can commit crime and wait many months before going to court.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Random drug testing was first used by the United States military to help stop the heroin epidemic, during the Vietnam War. Many public schools have been struggling with the problem of their students abusing drugs. Many schools are struggling to find a solution to the problem as well. Random drug testing is a practice that should be implemented in all public schools. Randomly testing students who are involved in extracurricular activities would allow teachers and other adults to help lead students in the right direction and help them put an end to their addiction.…

    • 1729 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Patrick J. Kennedy maintains the idea that, “No one is immune from addiction; it afflicts people of all ages, races, classes, and professions”. Kids health as well as their futures are greatly affected by drugs, actions should be taken now to deter them away from using or taking drugs. Schools should be allowed to drug test children in middle school and high school because it could help prevent the use of drugs, stop the issues corresponding with using drugs, and could lead to better lives. People tend to overlook the fact that young people can and will do drugs. “This survey of more than 46,000 teens—8th, 10th, and 12th graders to be exact—showed that 13%…

    • 799 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Outline and evaluate two or more competing theories of drug use. Which of these do you think is most successful at explaining contemporary patterns of drug use, and why? The causes of drug use have been under discussion for many years. In this essay, I will outline several theories which divided into three main areas: biological theories, psychological theories and sociological theories.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Another factor taking control over the effect of deterrence is the lack of knowledge. Individuals are not aware of the exact punishment when committing a crime. Finally, prison has becoming less stigmatizing leading to less of a deterrent effect. Individuals are failing to see prison as a harsh place to be (O’Brien Lecture). Closely relating to deterrence, incapacitation is also an ineffective way to handle the growing crime…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sings of drug abuse in teenagers can easily be identity at home and school. The article “A Prescription for Danger: Prescription Drug Abuse in Teens” reports “Parents can look for include drops in their children’s grades at school, sudden behavior changes or shifts in the kinds of friends they hang out with” (A Prescription for Danger). The use and abuse of drugs are serious issues that parents should not ignore because it can lead to serious health conditions and even death. The article “RADARS: Teen prescription drug use and abuse update” also confirms that “The most common means of acquisition of these medications is securing them from friends, or family members” (RADARS: Teen prescription).…

    • 1035 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    T., 1986). Deterrence is at the center of neoclassical thinking. Why are crime rates so high in the United States? Using the deterrence perspective, one could argue hypothetically that they are high because many criminals believe that many police officers will not make an arrest even if they are aware of a crime; therefore, there is only a small chance of being arrested for committing a particular crime. In addition, the perpetrator may believe that, even if arrested, there is a high probability of receiving a lenient punishment.…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays