Deterrence Theory Analysis

There are certain characteristics that constitute a good theory. In other words, there exists aspects of theories that would make the theory be considered as “good.” These characteristics may also be applied to theoretical arguments to be evaluated so that a specific theory, such as deterrence theory, may be considered good. However, theory must be defined before outlining the characteristics and applying them to deterrence theory.
A theory is a proposed explanation to a question, issue or event. Therefore, a theory may be used as a tool for comprehending crime. The characteristics that may be used to evaluate a theory may now be discussed since theory has been defined. There are certain characteristics that make a theory good: empirical validity, …show more content…
If laws and policies were decided based on the political beliefs of a theory’s proponents, the criminal justice system would be unjust since there lacks reliance on the actual nature of crimes; a theory may not be considered as good merely because the theory’s notions align with what the proponents prefer in terms of politics or partisanship. Although a theory is useful for addressing the issues of which policies are more likely to be effective, a theory is not a philosophical notion about what ought to be done. Thus, a theory may be evaluated in terms of its goodness about its comprehensibility, uniformity, span and simplicity, testability, and empirical validity but may not be “good” in terms of political …show more content…
For instance, the characteristics may be applied to deterrence theory. Deterrence theory may refer to any occasion in which a person considers engaging in a delinquent or criminal act but does not because he or she feels the threat of formal punishment. In other words, the person fears the legal ramifications that follows a criminal act. Deterrence theory may not necessarily be considered a good theory because the theory both has and lacks characteristics that would make the theory “good.” On one hand, the idea that if punishment is swift, severe, and certain, an individual would be less inclined to commit crime makes sense, is easy to grasp, and is logically consistent. Nevertheless, deterrence theory may be considered narrow since the theory refers only to the threat of formal punishment. Thus, the theory would lack range, when having a broad scope is good. Also, informal sanctions, such as family abandonment and embarrassment, on criminal behavior would then not increase the empirical validity of deterrence theory. Likewise, findings show that certainty of criminal sanctions somewhat deter crime but only to a negligible extent and that the death penalty is ineffective in terms of affecting the homicide rate, regardless of having that sanction on or off the books. Thus, deterrence theory would again be argued

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