Does Criminal Law Deter?
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
9-25-2008
Abstract
This chapter examines that fundamental question of whether criminal law deters. Topics discussed include the prerequisites to deterrence, aggregated-effect studies, and the possibilities and impossibilities of improving deterrent effect. It argues that given the rarity of situations in which the prerequisites of deterrence are present and of nonnegligible effect, the standard use of deterrence analysis to formulate criminal law doctrine seems wildly misguided. At the very least, deterrence analysis ought to be considered in criminal law debate only after a showing that the deterrence-prerequisite conditions might actually exist.
Keywords
deterrence, aggregated-effect studies, punishment, criminal liability, deterrent effect
Publication Title
Distributive Principles of Criminal Law: Who Should be Punished How Much
Repository Citation
Robinson, Paul, "Does Criminal Law Deter?" (2008). Book Chapters. 131.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_chapters/131
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195365757.003.0003
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195365757.003.0003