Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T03:34:41.891Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Effectiveness of Increased Police Enforcement as a General Deterrent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

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.

Social scientists have long been skeptical of the power of the threat of legal sanctions, as invoked by enacted laws, to control behavior. This skepticism has been supported by the failure of empirical studies, especially those based on official records of crimes and of the apprehension of offenders, to provide convincing evidence of the deterrent effect of legal penalties. The possibility that an experimental design might avoid the defects of other studies of deterrence has been suggested, and for this purpose, traffic law and its enforcement are especially salient. This paper reports on such a field experiment, which resulted in the conclusion that an increased threat of legal punishment, albeit a relatively small fine, reduced by one-half the number of customary offenders.

Type
Research Note
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 by The Law and Society Association

References

MEIER, Robert F., and Weldon T., JOHNSON (1977) “Deterrence as Social Control: The Legal and Extralegal Production of Conformity,” American Sociological Review 42 (April) 292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ROSS, H. Laurence (1982) Deterring the Drinking Driver: Legal Policy and Social Control. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath & Co.Google Scholar
WATSON, Roy E. L., and Stanley J. J., BELL (1982) The Effectiveness of a Program of Publicity and Enforcement of Motorists' Usage of Seat Belts: An Evaluation. Victoria, BC: The Authors.Google Scholar