ABSTRACT
In the United States, one of the most severe punishments that can be inflicted on an individual is imprisonment. The stripping away of an individual’s liberty and confining a person to a small cell is the antithesis of the freedoms granted in American society. Since incarceration—with the exception of capital punishment—is the ultimate cost that the state can bestow on a wrongdoer for committing a crime, one would expect a considerable amount of research assessing deterrence to focus on the impact of a prison sentence on criminal behavior. However, this is not the case, as correctional research is largely left out discussions of deterrence. In this context, we explore the lessons that can be learned about deterrence from the field of corrections. Specifically, we examine if traditional deterrence-based policies that emphasize the costs of crime by inflicting punishment and harm on offenders are more effective than more human services approaches, which focus on the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders.
