Verified answer

Deterrence is the use of punishment as a threat to deter people from offending. Deterrence is often contrasted with retributivism, which holds that punishment is a necessary consequence of a crime and should be calculated based on the gravity of the wrong done.

The concept of deterrence has two key assumptions: the first is that specific punishments imposed on offenders will "deter" or prevent them from committing further crimes; the second is that fear of punishment will prevent others from committing similar crimes. The notion of deterrence underlines the criminal justice systems in most democratic societies, although punishment and incarceration traditionally have a variety of goals – including incapacitation, punishment, deterrence and rehabilitation. In the United States in particular (but also in other Western democracies), sentencing policy initiatives have often been enacted with the goal of enhancing the deterrent effect. Under the rubric of "getting tough on crime", policies such as "mandatory minimums", "truth in sentencing", and "three strikes and you’re out" have been designed to deter offending with the threat of substantial terms of imprisonment

general deterrence theory