5.5. Neoclassical
Brian Fedorek
Modern deterrence theory is perhaps the most dominant philosophy of the American criminal justice system. Deterrence theory tries to change a person’s behavior through laws and punishments. As a form of social control, there is a belief that perceived punishments will serve as a warning of possible consequences, which would hopefully deter the person from committing the crime. There are two types of deterrence: general deterrence and specific deterrence. General deterrence uses punishment to deter crime among people in the general population. It uses punishment as an example for those people not punished. For example, capital punishment can serve as an example to other would-be offenders if they were thinking about murder. Specific deterrence uses punishment to reduce the crime of particular persons. The effect of the punishment depends on the nature of the punishment and who is punished.
News Box. In 1994, Oregon voters passed Measure 11, which established mandatory minimum sentencing for several serious crimes. Besides removing the judge’s ability to give a lesser sentence, Measure 11 prohibited prisoners from reducing their sentence through good behavior. Additionally, any defendant 15 years old or older who was accused of a Measure 11 offense was automatically tried as an adult. Recently, the Oregon Justice Resource Center reported the effects of Measure 11 on juveniles, especially minorities. Below are links to the news article and the report itself.
The Oregonian – “New Report Calls Measure 11 Sentences for Juveniles ‘Harsh and Costly'”
Measure 11 Exercise
After reading the above box and hyperlinks, please explain why many juveniles are not deterred from committing serious crimes in Oregon.
Classical ideology was the dominant paradigm for over a century, but it was eventually replaced by positivist approaches that seek to identify the causes of criminal behavior. However, classical ideology had a resurgence during the 1970s in the United States. Neoclassical theory recognizes people experience punishments differently, and a person’s environment, psychology, and other conditions can contribute to crime as well. Therefore, crime is a choice based on context. Many crime-prevention efforts used classical and neoclassical premises to focus on “what works” in preventing crime instead of focusing on why people commit criminal acts.
Cornish and Clarke (1986) proposed a Rational Choice Theory to explain criminals’ behavior.[1] They claimed offenders rationally calculate costs and benefits before committing a crime and assumed people want to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. The theory does not explain motivation, but instead, it expects some people will always commit a crime when given the opportunity. They do not assume offenders are entirely rational, but they do have bounded rationality. Bounded rationality is the constraint of both time and relevant information; offenders must decide in a timely fashion with th