Beccarria And Deterrence Theory Of Punishment

After a time when punishment was based on the idea of an eye for an eye and the supernatural world a new type of thinking came out that focused on rational choice and freewill. Ceasare Baccaria wrote On Crimes and Punishments, which focused on punishment as a way of preventing crime versus intervening in someone’s morality. Beccarria and deterrence theory assume that people are not influenced by some higher power but that people make rational choices to commit crime because according to their calculations it will provide the most benefits. These ideas become intertwined and strengthened by Jeremy Bentham’s thoughts on punishment and how as long as punishment outweighed the pleasure within the criminal act then crime would not occur. These ideas
The courts system and the corrections system make up a majority of the system these criminals will have to face. They also house key players who enact and enforce laws and punishments that according to deterrence theory either make or break the defining of a criminal. The courts system gives people punishments that could include being held in jail or prison, they also often times interpret what is going to be deemed criminal and therefore what will be punished. Without these two parts of the criminal justice system working efficiently and judges handing out punishments that are reasonable, the ideas of deterrence theory will not work. For example, Brock Turner raped a female behind a dumpster and was sentenced to six months in jail and actually released at three months via “good behavior”. The idea of deterrence theory in case will not work and he is more likely to commit a criminal act again because the judge did not give him a punishment that fit his crime. This is an example of where without the whole criminal justice system functioning properly crime according to deterrence theory it will therefore lack the abilities to actually deter