The concept of deterrence states that one party can use threats
as a means to prevent another party from initiating a course of
action. This threat acts as a deterrent in a way that it convinces
the other party that if it initiates a course of action, the costs
and losses it will have to bear will be higher than the gains that
might happen.
The three essentials of deterrence are:
- Certainty : This factor makes the recipient to
believe that its actions will not go unpunished if it initiates the
undesirable course of action. This is the first step for deterrence
to work successfully. For example, if a criminal is caught for
murder, and law states that he be given life imprisonment, it must
be made certain that all such criminals who are convicted, are
actually given the punishment. Then only it will deter the other
criminals from committing murder in the future.
- Celerity : This factor outlines the swiftness
with which the threats are carried out in case of undesirable
actions by the other party. For example, the faster the convicted
criminals are punished and cases are closed, the better the law
acts as a deterrence for the criminals.
- Severity : This is very important factor for
deterrence and it makes the other party fear the punishment and
prevents it from doing undesirable and unwanted actions. The
severity outlines the degree of punishment as a deterrent for
unwanted actions. For example, if the punishment for a crime is 3
years jail term in one country, and it is 5 years for the same
crime in another country, the 5 years is a more severe deterrent
and hence the fear of punishment will be higher in this case.