Pregledni rad
Deterrence of the penalty of deprivation of liberty
Neven Cirkveni
; Odvjetnik u Zagrebu, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The deterrence of the penalty of deprivation of liberty depends on its severity, which is to say that only the longer sentences have a deterrent effect. However, although deterrence is enhanced with longer sentences, this is true only up to a certain point, after which
longer sentences produce hardly any additional deterrent effect. The range between the minimum length of sentence having a deterrent effect and the maximum length beyond which the effect stops increasing is referred to as the penalty effectiveness range. Research
conducted to date fails to suggest what the exact ceiling would be, or even the actual existence of a universal ceiling which would equally apply to all offences and offenders. Taking into account these considerations, the issue of marginal deterrence is a central
issue of criminal policy. The classical school of thought established a theoretical framework of deterrence which was reflected two centuries later in the economic theory of crime based on mathematical patterns. The paper presents the main objections both to the classical approach, and to its contemporary scientific application. Significant as they may be, the objections
do not diminish the value of the economic approach to studying crime and the social reaction produced by punishment. What is more, studies into the effectiveness of the penalty of deprivation of liberty have confirmed its effectiveness without any doubt and
identified the conditions under which this penalty has a deterrent effect. In addition, studies ascribing to the economic school of thought have established a completely new outlook on the phenomenon of crime – the thesis that, under certain conditions, crime is in fact a normal state of the society, conditioned by possibilities of legal realisation of income and the readiness of the legal order to spend a certain amount of its resources on
fighting crime. Owing to that, it is possible to manipulate crime using the same resources as are used to manipulate any other social phenomenon – by a targeted application of economic instruments, i.e. by allocating social resources in a particular manner and
degree. Criminal policy has a very specific price which allows one to select the degree of illicit activity which the society will tolerate at that price.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
70307
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.5.2011.
Posjeta: 2.787 *