Does Specific Deterrence Work? Essay Example

Another key concept of the crime control is the specific deterrence model. The general deterrence model focuses on future or potential criminals. In contrast, the theory of specific (also called special or particular) deterrence holds that criminal sanctions should be so powerful that known criminals will never repeat their criminal acts. For example, the drunk driver whose sentence is a substantial fine and a week in the county jail should, according to this theory, be convinced that the price to be paid for drinking and driving is too great to consider future violations. Similarly, burglars who spend five years in a tough, maximum-security prison should find their enthusiasm for theft dampened. In principle, punishment works if a connection can be established between the planned action and memories of its consequence; if these recollections are adequately intense, the action will be unlikely to occur again. Or in other words, “once burnt, twice shy”.

Does Specific Deterrence Work?

Crime control people argue that if you can punish people sufficiently, they will not dare to commit crime again. This makes intuitive sense, but does it work? Unfortunately, a majority of known criminals are not deterred by their punishment; arrest and punishment seem to have little effect on experienced criminals and may even increase the likelihood that first-time offenders will commit new crimes.  Chronic offender research indicates that a stay in a correctional facility does little to deter persistent delinquents and increases, rather than decreases, the likelihood they will become an adult criminal.

About two-thirds of all convicted felons are rearrested within three years of their release from prison.  Incarceration may sometimes slow down or delay recidivism in the short term, but the overall probability of re-arrest does not change following incarceration.

Rather than reducing the frequency of crime, punishment may increase re-offending rates.  For example, inmates who had the greatest prior arrest record were the most likely to recidivate. An astounding 82 percent of those people with 16 or more prior arrests were re-arrested within three years of their leaving prison; 61 percent were re-arrested in a single year. Why bother letting them go? Click on the link below to find data on parole success:

In some instances, rather than reducing the frequency of crime, severe punishments may actually increase re-offending rates.  Some states are now employing high security “super max” prisons which use bare minimum treatment and 23 hour a day lockdown. Certainly such a harsh regimen should deter future criminality. But a recent study in the state of Washington   that matched on a one to one basis  supermax prisoners    with   inmates from more traditional prisons, showed that upon release  supermax prisoners     had significantly higher felony recidivism rates than  similar inmates who do their time in  less secure  institutions.

Reentry Trends

Why doesn’t specific deterrence work? Punishment may bring defiance rather than deterrence, or perhaps the stigma of apprehension may help lock offenders into a criminal career instead of convincing them to avoid one. The experienced offender may not fear the justice system having entered it and survived. It is also possible that the personal and social factors, which produce crime, are exacerbated, rather than reduced, by experiencing punishment:

• Punishment may bring defiance rather than deterrence. People who are harshly treated may want to show that they cannot be broken by the system.
• The stigma of  harsh treatment labels people and helps   lock offenders into a criminal career instead of convincing them to avoid one.