Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-mgq6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-06T16:07:01.236Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Perceptual Research on General Deterrence: A Critical Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

Kirk R. Williams  and
Richard Hawkins
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Recent perceptual studies of general deterrence have been guided by an unnecessarily narrow conception of general deterrence, despite the methodological advances in this type of research. These studies, moreover, have failed to recognize the complexity of the perceptual processes that intervene between the threat or experience of legal sanctions and behavioral outcomes. Consequently, the conclusions drawn from the findings about the process of general deterrence are questionable. This paper critically reviews perceptual studies of general deterrence with a view toward expanding the scope of deterrence theory and stimulating research in new directions. Suggestions are made about the kinds of data and analyses needed to test such theory more adequately.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , 1986 , pp. 545 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 The Law and Society Association

Footnotes

This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the Thirty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, Cincinnati, Ohio, November 7–11, 1984. We would like to thank Robert Kidder, the anonymous reviewers of the Law & Society Review, and the following people (in alphabetical order) for their many helpful comments and criticisms of earlier drafts of this paper: Angela Browne, Jack Gibbs, Harold Grasmick, Colin Loftin, Joan McCord, Bill Minor, Murray A. Straus, Charles Tittle, and Susan White. We also would like to thank Deena Peschke for her typing assistance.

References

ANDENAES, Johannes (1974) Punishment and Deterrence. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
ANDERSON, Linda S., CHIRICOS, Theodore G., and Gordon P., WALDO (1977) “Formal and Informal Sanctions: A Comparison of Deterrent Effects,” 25 Social Problems 103.Google Scholar
BAILEY, William C., and Ruth P., LOTT (1976) “Crime, Punishment, and Personality: An Examination of the Deterrence Question,” 67 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 99.Google Scholar
BECKER, Gary S. (1968) “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach,” 76 Journal of Political Economy 169.Google Scholar
BEDAU, Hugo A. (ed.) (1982) The Death Penalty in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
BISHOP, Donna M. (1984) “Legal and Extralegal Barriers to Delinquency: A Panel Analysis,” 22 Criminology 403.Google Scholar
BLUMSTEIN, Alfred, Jacqueline, COHEN, and Daniel, NAGIN (eds.) (1978) Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
BRIER, Stephen S., and Stephen E., FIENBERG (1980) “Recent Econometric Modeling of Crime and Punishment: Support for the Deterrence Hypothesis?” 4 Evaluation Review 147.Google Scholar
BURKETT, Steven R., and Eric L., JENSEN (1975) “Conventional Ties, Peer Influence, and the Fear of Apprehension: A Study of Adolescent Marijuana Use,” 16 Sociological Quarterly 522.Google Scholar
CLASTER, Daniel S. (1967) “Comparison of Risk Perception between Delinquents and Non-Delinquents,” 58 Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 80.Google Scholar
EHRLICH, Isaac (1973) “Participation in Illegitimate Activities: A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation,” 81 Journal of Political Economy 521.Google Scholar
EKLAND-OLSEN, Sheldon, John, LIEB, and Louis, ZURCHER (1984) “The Paradoxical Impact of Criminal Sanctions: Some Micro-Structural Findings,” 18 Law & Society Review 159.Google Scholar
ERICKSON, Maynard L., and Jack P., GIBBS (1979) “On the Perceived Severity of Legal Penalties,” 70 Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science 102.Google Scholar
ERICKSON, Maynard L., GIBBS, Jack P., and Gary F., JENSEN (1977) “The Deterrence Doctrine and the Perceived Certainty of Legal Punishments,” 42 American Sociological Review 305.Google Scholar
ERICKSON, Maynard L., STAFFORD, Mark C., and James, GALLIHER (1984) “The Normative Erosion Hypothesis: The Latent Consequences of Juvenile Justice Practices,” 25 Sociological Quarterly 373.Google Scholar
ERICKSON, Patricia G. (1976) “Deterrence and Deviance: The Example of Cannabis Prohibition,” 67 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 222.Google Scholar
GIBBS, Jack P. (1975) Crime, Punishment, and Deterrence. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
GIBBS, Jack P. (1986) “Deterrence Theory and Research,” in G., MELTON (ed.), Law as a Behavioral Instrument. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.Google Scholar
GRASMICK, Harold G. (1985) “The Application of a Generalized Theory of Deterrence to Income Tax Evasion.” Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association, San Diego (June 6-9, 1985).Google Scholar
GRASMICK, Harold G., and L., APPLETON (1977) “Legal Punishment and Social Stigma: A Comparison of Two Deterrence Models,” 58 Social Science Quarterly 15.Google Scholar
GRASMICK, Harold G., and George J., BRYJAK (1980) “The Deterrent Effect of Perceived Severity of Punishment,” 59 Social Forces 471.Google Scholar
GRASMICK, Harold G., and Green, Donald E. (1980) “Legal Punishment, Social Disapproval, and Internalization as Inhibitors of Illegal Behavior,” 71 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 325.Google Scholar
GRASMICK, Harold G., Darlene, JACOBS, and McMCOLLOM, Carol B. (1983) “Social Class and Social Control: An Application of Deterrence Theory,” 62 Social Forces 359.Google Scholar
GRASMICK, Harold G., and H., MILLIGAN (1976) “Deterrence Theory Approach to Socioeconomic/Demographic Correlates of Crime,” 57 Social Science Quarterly 608.Google Scholar
GREENBERG, David F. (1981) “Methodological Issues in Survey Research on the Inhibition of Crime,” 72 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 1094.Google Scholar
HIRSCHI, Travis (1969) Causes of Delinquency. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
HOLLINGER, Richard D., and John P., CLARK (1983) “Deterrence in the Workplace: Perceived Certainty, Perceived Severity, and Employee Theft,” 62 Social Forces 398.Google Scholar
JENSEN, Gary F. (1969) “Crime Doesn't Pay: Correlates of a Shared Misunderstanding,” 17 Social Problems 189.Google Scholar
JENSEN, Gary F., ERICKSON, Maynard L., and Jack P., GIBBS (1978) “Perceived Risk of Punishment and Self-Reported Delinquency,” 57 Social Forces 57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KING, Harry, and William J., CHAMBLISS (1984) A Professional Thief's Journey. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
KRAUT, Robert E. (1976) “Deterrent and Definitional Influence on Shoplifting,” 23 Social Problems 358.Google Scholar
LEMPERT, Richard (1982) “Organizing for Deterrence: Lessons from a Study of Child Support,” 16 Law & Society Review 513.Google Scholar
LUKSETICH, William A., and Michael P., WHITE (1982) Crime and Public: An Economic Approach. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
MEIER, Robert F., BURKETT, Steven R., and Carol A., HICKMAN (1984) “Sanctions, Peers, and Deviance: Preliminary Models of a Social Control Process,” 25 Sociological Quarterly 67.Google Scholar
MEIER, Robert F., and Weldon T., JOHNSON (1977) “Deterrence as Social Control: The Legal and Extra-Legal Production of Conformity,” 42 American Sociological Review 292.Google Scholar
MILLER, Walter B. (1958) “Lower Class Culture as a Generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency,” 14 Journal of Social Issues 5.Google Scholar
MINOR, W. William (1977) “A Deterrency-Control Theory of Crime,” in R. F., MEIER (ed.), Theory in Criminology: Contemporary Views. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
R. F., MEIER (1978) “Deterrence Research: Problems of Theory and Method,” in J. A., CRAMER (ed.), Preventing Crime, Vol. 10. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
MINOR, W. William, and Joseph, HARRY (1982) “Deterrent and Experiential Effects in Perceptual Deterrence Research: A Replication and Extension,” 19 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 190.Google Scholar
PARKER, Jerry, and Harold G., GRASMICK (1979) “Linking Actual and Perceived Certainty of Punishment: An Exploratory Study of an Untested Proposition in Deterrence Theory,” 17 Criminology 366.Google Scholar
PATERNOSTER, Raymond, and Lee Ann, IOVANNI (1986) “The Deterrent Effect of Perceived Severity: A Reexamination,” 64 Social Forces 751.Google Scholar
PATERNOSTER, Raymond, SALTZMAN, Linda E., CHIRICOS, Theodore G., and Gordon P., WALDO (1982) “Perceived Risk and Deterrence: Methodological Artifacts in Perceptual Deterrence Research,” 73 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 1238.Google Scholar
PATERNOSTER, Raymond, SALTZMAN, Linda E., WALDO, Gordon P., and Theodore G., CHIRICOS (1983a) “Estimating Perceptual Stability and Deterrent Effects: The Role of Perceived Legal Punishment in the Inhibition of Criminal Involvement,” 74 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 270.Google Scholar
Theodore G., CHIRICOS (1983b) “Perceived Risk and Social Control: Do Sanctions Really Deter?” 17 Law & Society Review 457.Google Scholar
Theodore G., CHIRICOS (1985) “Assessments of Risk and Behavioral Experience: An Exploratory Study of Change,” 23 Criminology 417.Google Scholar
PILIAVIN, Irving, GARTNER, Rosemary, THORTON, Craig, and Ross L., MATSUEDA (1986) “Crime, Deterrence, and Rational Choice,” 51 American Sociological Review 101.Google Scholar
RICHARDS, Pamela, and Charles R., TITTLE (1982) “Socioeconomic Status and Perceptions of Personal Arrest Probabilities,” 20 Criminology 329.Google Scholar
SALTZMAN, Linda E., PATERNOSTER, Raymond, WALDO, Gordon P., and Theodore G., CHIRICOS (1982) “Deterrent and Experiential Effects: The Problem of Causal Order in Perceptual Deterrence Research,” 19 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 172.Google Scholar
SHERMAN, Lawrence, and Richard A., BERK (1984) “The Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Assault,” 49 American Sociological Review 261.Google Scholar
SILBERMAN, Matthew (1976) “Toward a Theory of Criminal Deterrence,” 41 American Sociological Review 442.Google Scholar
TEEVAN, James L. Jr. (1976) “Subjective Perceptions of Deterrence (Continued),” 13 Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 155.Google Scholar
TITTLE, Charles R. (1977) “Sanction Fear and the Maintenance of Social Order,” 55 Social Forces 579.Google Scholar
TITTLE, Charles R. (1980) Sanctions and Social Deviance. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
TITTLE, Charles R., and Charles H., LOGAN (1973) “Sanctions and Deviance: Evidence and Remaining Questions,” 7 Law & Society Review 371.Google Scholar
WALDO, Gordon P., and Theodore G., CHIRICOS (1972) “Perceived Penal Sanction and Self-Reported Criminality: A Neglected Approach to Deterrence Research,” 19 Social Problems 522.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, Kirk R., and Maynard L., ERICKSON (1981) “Potential for Crime and Knowledge of Legal Sanction,” 2 Deviant Behavior 287.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, Kirk R., and Jack P., GIBBS (1981) “Deterrence and Knowledge of Statutory Penalties,” 22 Sociological Quarterly 591.Google Scholar
WILLIAMS, Kirk R., GIBBS, Jack P., and Maynard L., ERICKSON (1980) “Public Knowledge of Statutory Penalties: The Extent and Basis of Accurate Perception,” 23 Pacific Sociological Review 105.Google Scholar
ZIMRING, Frank E., and Gordon, HAWKINS (1973) Deterrence: The Legal Threat in Crime Control. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar