Which strategy aims to discourage crime through fear of punishment?

• A. Due Process Model
• B. Deterrence
• C. Internal Forms of Social Control
• D. External Forms of Social Control

Answer: (B)

Deterrence is the idea that people refrain from committing crimes because they fear the punishment that could follow. It rests on the belief that the threat of punishment can influence decision-making, shifting potential offenders away from illegal actions. There are two aspects: general deterrence, which aims to discourage others in society by making punishment seem likely, and specific deterrence, which seeks to deter the individual offender from reoffending by their own experience of punishment. The other options describe different ideas—procedural fairness and rights (due process), or different kinds of social control (internalized norms or formal mechanisms) that don’t specifically hinge on the fear of punishment as the primary tool to prevent crime.