Certainty of Punishment, Essay Example

According to the concept of general deterrence if the probability of arrest, conviction, and sanction increases, crime rates should decline. Offenders, unless they are completely irrational will soon figure out that the increased likelihood of punishment outweighs any benefit they perceive from committing crimes. When they see their neighbors, friends and gang brothers being sent away in droves they will get the message that “crime does not pay”.

But we do punish criminals severely and there is still a lot of crime. How come? According to the crime control view, crime persists because most criminals still believe that:

• There is only a small chance they will get arrested
• That police officers are sometimes reluctant to make arrests even if they are aware of crime
• That even if apprehended there is a good chance of receiving a lenient punishment especially if they have a good lawyer
• They are too crazy or needy to care much about what happens to them

While these results contradict the crime control model, there is evidence that there is a “tipping point” in the equation. Deterrence does not work because the system is too inefficient; there are too many loopholes for criminal to crawl through, not enough cops, etc. If the level of apprehension and punishment can be increased to an optimum point then the deterrent effect will kick in.   For example, police routinely solve about 20 percent of reported crimes. If they could increase their effectiveness and make an arrest in at least 30 percent of all reported crimes, then the crime rate might decline.