Daniel S. Nagin - Deterrence, Choice, and Crime, Volume 23

Francis T. Cullen
University of Cincinnati

William S. Laufer
University of Pennsylvania

Freda Adler
University of Pennsylvania

Advances in Criminological Theory Volume 23

Daniel S. Nagin
Francis T. Cullen
Cheryl Lero Jonson
editors

In 1764, the Enlightenment philosopher Cesare Beccaria published Of Crimes and Punishment, a treatise that presages large swaths of modern criminological research and contemporary debate about criminal justice policy. Were it not for the fact that it was published more than 250 years ago, I would rank it among the most important contributions to modern criminological thought. In this treatise, Beccaria lays out the first behavioral model of deterrence. In modern jargon, this model rests on three key decision-relevant variablesthe certainty, severity, and immediacy of punishment. Thus, two centuries before the emergence of decision theory, Beccaria anticipated its central ingredientsprobabilities, outcomes, and timingall without the aid of seminal texts such as Von Neumann and Morgansterns Theory of Games (1953). Beccarias theory has formed the foundation for research on deterrence across the social sciences whether in criminology, economics, psychology, or sociology. It is a remarkable and transcendent contribution that to my mind makes him the first modern criminologist, albeit far before his time. in this volume by Gerben Bruinsma on the classical roots of deterrence theory develops Beccarias profoundly important contribution.

This volume explores the various dimensions of modern deterrence theory and its application, many of which are explicitly mentioned or at least hinted by Beccaria. These include the sources of sanction risk perceptions and their behavioral consequences (Paternoster), the deterrent efficacy of the certainty versus the severity of punishment (Nagin), the role of celerity (immediacy) of punishment in the deterrence process (Pratt and Turanovic), informal versus formal deterrence (Apel and DeWitt), and individual differences in deterrence (Loughran, Paternoster, and Piquero). Other chapters develop the practical applications of the lessons of deterrence by police (Corsaro and Weisburd), corrections (Jonson and Manchak), and other agents located in the community (Eck and Madensen, Wilcox and Cullen). Still other chapters explore the theoretical development of deterrence across disciplines (Chalfin and Tahamont, Sullivan and Lugo).