Deterrence Theory

Improved Essays
As I was reading the title of Chapter 5, I can see that we will be going over theories of crime. Neoclassical explanations assume that criminals act with free will. Biology and psychology focus on the smaller picture, whereas sociology focuses on the larger picture. These differences are a way to understand human behavior. With these differences, it does not mean that one perspective is better than the other. One of the journeys in the world of theory begins by reviewing the change from theory to science. In ancient times people were known to act devious for many reasons.
1) God tested their faith
2) They were being punished
3) Their type of behavior was a warning to others to follow the rules
4) They were cursed by demons
Back in the BIBLE
…show more content…
There are 6 different types of deterrence. Absolute deterrence: the effect of having some legal punishment versus of having no legal punishment. Marginal deterrence is the increasing the hardness and or speed of legal punishment. General deterrence happens when members of the public fear legal punishment. They don’t break the laws specific deterrence is when a person is already punished and decides not to commit another crime. Objective deterrence is the impact of an actual legal punishment, whereas subjective deterrence refers to when a person’s perception is when it comes to the harshness of legal …show more content…
Endomorphs means the person is heavy, with short arms and legs. Mesomorphs means the person is athletic and muscular. Ectomorphs means the person is thin, cautious, and very sensitive.
Biologists as well as researchers, believe that crime tends to run in the family. They also assume that a criminal habit is inherited. On the other hand, there is the psychologic side. This is known as the psychoanalytic explanations, which refers to human motivation as well as the behavior that have been described from Sigmund Freud. There are four types of Psychoanalytic Explanations: Psychoanalytic Explanations, Moral Development, Intelligence or IQ, and lastly Personality Explanations.
First is Psychoanalytic Explanations is the individual personality that consists of the id, ego, and superego. Moral Development is when a child experiences several stages of moral development. Although a major reason for antisocial behavior because of incomplete development. Having a low IQ can produce a life of crime. Lastly is Personality Explanations problems that develop in childhood that contributes criminal behavior during the teen and adult

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Third, they explore the personality characteristics of criminals and acknowledge that criminals do tend to be more impulsive, intolerant, and irresponsible than non-criminals. Lastly, they investigate the relation of criminality to such mental disorders as psychosis and…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When speaking about deterrence it is referring to specific and general deterrence. Specific is being able to deter previously convicted through punishment and incarceration. General is to deter the public in general away from committing crimes by informing them of the consequences. Numerous studies have found that capital punishment is not a great enough deterrence from serious offences to enforce it. The homicide rates of places with or without the death penalty are very similar in nature.…

    • 1716 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Theories Of Crime

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Why people commit crime can be a very thought question, and maybe impossible to answer without some concepts. “Theories are devised to explain how a number of different correlates may actually be causally related to criminal behavior rather than simply associated with it." Anthony, W. (2012) Criminology, page 13. Theories of Crime brought lights on a various causes and reasons for crime such as poor parental, birth on financial hardship, and birth defects. Other reasons provided are genetic, psychological, and environmental; example, a mother on drugs and father’s cell compromised by drug use, lack of food, hunger, poor education, and all of these negatives things can influence someone to commit crimes.…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many argue that the Death penalty functions as a specific and general deterrence in society. For instance, general deterrence aims to make the individual aware of similar consequences occurring if he or she were to commit a similar offense (Fuller 2014, 20). Whereas, specific deterrence focuses on preventing the perpetrator itself from recidivating, due to understanding the consequences of having that behavior (Fuller 2014, 20). It is argued that one fears death and would rather face a life sentence in prison than Capital punishment. This allegedly is the reason why those who deviate lessen the severity of their offense to avoid the Death penalty.…

    • 1202 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Smith, Stephanie 06/15/2017 Comprehensive Exams: Theory Question __1__ Nature versus Nurture There has been a debate that has long been discussed between social theorist and criminologist. That discussion focuses on whether a person is born with traits that make them commit criminal acts or has nature, the environment, caused the person to become a criminal. This debate is about nature (genetic factors) versus nurture (social learning) and its focus on an individual’s choices they make in their life, either good or bad.…

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deterrence is a way of using punishment to threaten, discourage, or divert people from committing further crimes. There are two key categories of deterrence: general deterrence and specific deterrence. General deterrence targets potential offenders, aiming to discourage individuals from committing similar offences as past offenders. General deterrence can also be thought of as a threat to the whole public, it would occur when an individual sees the consequences of another; therefore, does not engage in the same behavior. Specific deterrence, on the other hand, is a punishment to the individual person because of a crime they committed.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    General deterrence is presumes that others in society will not commit crimes; because they will be caught and punished also general deterrence is the recognition that criminal acts results in punishment, and the effect of that recognition on society that prevents future crimes. 5. Describe restorative justice. The restorative justice models sentencing that shifts the focus away from punishment of the offender and emphasize the victim by holding offenders accountable for the harm they caused and finding opportunities for them to repair the damage.…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Rigg V Palmer Case Summary

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Deterrence is a concept that is central to lawmaking, it encourages lawmakers to create laws with punishments that discourage others from committing crimes. In this case, the court needs to send a message to society that citizens are unable to benefit from…

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction: There are many unique theories as to why humans commit crime, engage with others in crime, and are lured or motivated by a criminal lifestyle. By studying these theories, one is afforded a chance to develop and then test potential solutions to this enormous social problem that has afflicted humanity since the beginning of time. The various ways of deterring, controlling, preventing, and punishing crime throughout history has changed drastically. Attempting to attack the problem of crime head on, has not worked; so developing different ways to learn why, adapt, and address the root causes of crime is the current strategy. One very important point is that the structural frameworks and contributions from both classical school of…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deterrence theory is a theory looking at ways to prevent crimes. Deterrence theory argues that crime can be deterred or prevented based off of…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The psychodynamic theory focuses on the theory that psychological problems could be a reason for criminals to commit crimes caused by unconscious conflicts, defences, anger, sexuality, low self-esteem or underdeveloped id/ego. The Jeffrey Dahmer case is an example looked by different psychiatric though the psychodynamic perspective, where between 1978-1991 seventeen men and boys were sexually assaulted and murdered by Dahmer, who was diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder(SPD), borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). He was sentenced to life in prison in 1992. This essay will discuss the antecedents of the psychodynamic theory and the different stages of personality, as well as to go through the…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Criminal Sentencing Essay

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Deterrence can be defined as sanctioning convicted offenders to reduce crime by…

    • 1107 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This paper is going to compare and contrast the theories put forth from Terrie Moffitt (Dual Pathway Developmental Theory) and from Sampson & Laub (Age-Graded Developmental Theory). First we will look at what is similar in the two theories. They both are longitudinal studies, meaning that they take place with a fixed group of subjects who are monitored and data is gathered on for a specific time. The Dual Pathway Developmental Theory used data that was collected from New Zeland over the last forty-one years, and is still on going.…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sheldon’s work looked at physique and identified three main types, which he called somatotypes: endomorphic, which is soft and round; ectomorphic, which is slim and generally frail; and mesomorphic, which is athletic and muscular. He related these somatotypes to certain personality traits that those people tended towards and proposed that endomorphs were typically easygoing and sociable, calling this viscerotonic temperament; ectomorphs were generally more susceptible to illness and allergies, displayed high intelligence and were introverted, calling this cerebrotonic temperament; and mesomorphs showed aggressive or assertive qualities and were characteristically dynamic and active, calling this somotonic temperament (Heidt & Wheeldon, 2014). In his research, Sheldon discovered that the mesomorphic physique was most associated with criminal behaviour. This observation, though simple by nature, has since been used as a basis for more complex, multifaceted theories (Heidt & Wheeldon,…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    If people are certain that they will be caught then they are less likely to engage in criminal activity. One of the very first deterrence studies looked at the states that used capital punishment and states that did not have the death penalty (Akers et al, 2017). The studies found that having the death penalty did not decrease the homicide rate which means that the severity did not affect whether or not individuals…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays