Introduction
In deterrence, punishment is recognised as a warning, to prevent people from committing crimes. There are two assumptions used in deterrence. First, if specific punishments are imposed for particular crimes, the offenders are prevented or deterred from repeating the crimes. Second, other people will be afraid of committing crimes because of the impending punishment. The concept of deterrence is the foundation of criminal justice systems in a majority of democratic nations. Deterrence bears a wide array of implications in traditional criminal justice practices.
Law Enforcement
There are various law bodies involved in law enforcement. For instance, police agencies have a principal role in criminal law enforcement, hindering criminal activities, investigating whether criminal offenses have been committed, taking part in court proceedings, and apprehending offenders. In this regard, communities perceive that the police have substantial authority, which prevents criminal activities within the community. Sometimes, the police engage in patrols, which give the community the idea that it should uphold the law (Zimring and Gordon 30).
Judicial Practices
The judicial system is composed of various levels. The court system plays an extremely vital role during arrest, trial, and sentencing. Some probation services include pre-sentence investigations and supervision of convicted criminals.
Correctional Practices
In many countries, correctional institutions include parole, jails, prisons, and programs initiated by the community. The local and state government units are involved in correctional practices. In jails, prisoners are involved in pre-trial detentions, which make them fearful and straightforward during the trial. Moreover, prisoners are subjected to short sentences, which involve hard labour. Prisoners accused of ordinance violations are usually held in jails. Individuals charged with criminal offences are retained in lock-ups for forty-eight hours, before appearing in court. Prisoners who have served a particular portion of their jail term may be moved to paroles.
The Strongest and Weakest Area
Having discussed the implications of deterrence in law enforcement, judicial practices, and correctional practices, my take is that deterrence has exceptionally strong impacts on correctional practices. The rational-choice theory argues that a criminal perceives several things before engaging in crime. He first perceives that there is a likelihood of him being caught, the impending punishment, as well as the potential reward. Through an escalated severity of latent punishment, people are afraid of committing crimes (Thomas and Howard 49). In my opinion, law enforcement is the second area where the implications of deterrence have more impacts. Critics assert that before committing crimes, criminals never debate about probable punishment. Therefore, law enforcement is extremely vital.
As discussed earlier, some of the law enforcement strategies include police patrols. Through police patrols, potential criminals may get the idea that there is tight security and, therefore, deterred from committing crimes. Law enforcement comes first. Through law enforcement, prisoners have fear instilled in them, concerning the impending punishment. Parole prevents murderers from killing again. It is worth pointing out that 99.9 percent of sentenced capital killers request for life in the absence of parole, rather than the death penalty (Duffee 56).
On the other hand, the implications of deterrence are weakest in judicial practices. Basically, judicial systems are involved in establishing whether a criminal is innocent or not. The criminal is permitted to use a lawyer to defend him. Therefore, even though a person might have committed a crime, he may be released in case the lawyer wins.
Works Cited
Duffee, David. Explaining criminal justice: Community theory and criminal justice reform. Cambridge, MA: Oelgeschlager, Gunn & Hain, 2008. Print.
Thomas, Winfree, and Howard Abadinsky. Understanding Crime: Essentials of Criminological Theory. New York: Elsevier, 2006. Print.
Zimring, Franklin, and Gordon Hawkins. Deterrence: The legal threat in crime control. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.