Deterrent means to discourage, it seeks to discourage the evil minds into treading the wrong and the illegal path. Among the five theories of the criminal jurisprudence namely, deterrent, retributive, preventive, reformative and expiatory this particular theory sets the dreadful consequences i.e. punitive actions against the wrongdoer in order to curb the menaces of the would be evildoers and it also deters the criminals to commit the crime for the next time.
In an essay by Daniel S. Nagin “Deterrence in the twenty-first Century” written in the year 2013, he has very vividly explained few points relating to deterrent theory which can be summarized by stating that the fear of being caught is far more dreadful than the draconian punishment, when the legal system has been successful in punishing a criminal it has shown its power in getting hold of the criminal, this alone shall act as a fear psychosis in the minds of the other criminals. It is also the police force who helps in deterring a crime. The strategies used by the police such as sentinels and hot spot policing are effective. A criminal’s behaviour is likely to be affected by seeing a uniformed policeman with handcuffs and a pistol rather than the strict penal provisions on paper.
It can be very well concluded that over the years death penalty have not been very effective in deterring the most heinous crimes in the society had it been so there had been only one death sentence till date for a similar type of offence, drawing the point to the number of increasing rape cases in the last decades it is very disheartening that a complete dead stop to this offence has not been achieved. Some of the rational thinkers of the society might argue that there has been a check to the crime to a certain degree but my question then is that in the civilized society like ours where we talk about internationalism, social networking at the touch of the index finger, the hi-tech modern scientific advancements and the like, Can there be a place for a crime where the very basic rights of the human existence is deprived to the better half of the society? The incessant worry to the exposed crime disallows a fearless living to the weaker (yet stronger) sex of the society.
The legal system is incessantly polishing its laws, strategies, procedures and interpretations in order to curb the crimes with a view to make our society more civilized and proper and the zest to do so shall be never ending. After all, it is only when the society is civilized there advents the Law and regulation for the human conduct.
