Specifying Specific Deterrence: The Influence of Arrest on Future Criminal Activity
Abstract
Using data on police contacts for a cohort of males born in 1949 and followed until age 25, this paper examines the influence of arrest on future criminal activity. Two questions are examined. Does arrest amplify or deter the future criminal activity of those arrested? Does the influence of being arrested on future offending vary by where arrest occurs in the sequence of police contacts: for example, does being arrested have more influence on the future criminal activity of novice or experienced offenders? Drawing on the "criminal career" perspective, we partition future offending into distinct components, such as rate of future offending, duration of a criminally active period, and desistence from future offending. Evidence emerges that is more consistent with a specific deterrence position than a labeling perspective.
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Studies that sought to adjudicate between deterrence and labeling have had mixed results.
“The ones that sought to do so have had mixed results (e.g., Klein, 1974; Nedelec & Silver, 2018; Smith & Gartin, 1989; Ward & Tittle, 1993; Wiley & Esbensen, 2016), leaving the difficult task of having to draw on an inconclusive evidence base when making policy recommendations.”
From Does contact with the justice system deter or promote future delinquency? Results from a longitudinal study of British adolescent twins (2020) · cites this paper as Smith & Gartin, 1989
Cites
Tannenbaum, F. (1938) · doi:10.7312/tann90782 · Cited by 807 · see citing works
Labeling, Deterrence, and Recidivism: A Study of Police Dispositions of Juvenile Offenders
Klein, M. W. (1974) · Social Problems · doi:10.2307/799765 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
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The Transfer of Juveniles to Criminal Court: Reexamining Recidivism Over the Long Term
Winner, L., Lanza-Kaduce, L., Bishop, D. M., & Frazier, C. E. (1997) · Crime & Delinquency · doi:10.1177/0011128797043004009 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Motz, R. T., Barnes, J. C., Caspi, A., Arseneault, L., Cullen, F. T., Houts, R., Wertz, J., & Moffitt, T. E. (2020) · Criminology · doi:10.1111/1745-9125.12236 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“The ones that sought to do so have had mixed results (e.g., Klein, 1974; Nedelec & Silver, 2018; Smith & Gartin, 1989; Ward & Tittle, 1993; Wiley & Esbensen, 2016), leaving the difficult task of having to draw on an inconclusive evidence base when making policy recommendations.”
BackgroundWard, J. T., Krohn, M. D., & Gibson, C. L. (2014) · Journal of Interpersonal Violence · doi:10.1177/0886260513505219 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
- Authors
- Smith, D. A., & Gartin, P. R.
- Venue
- American Sociological Review
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1989-02
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 94
- ISSN
- 0003-1224 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2327045267
- Cited by
- 83
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 15.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Sociological Review (publishedVersion)
- BearWorks (Missouri State University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Keywords
- arrests, specific deterrence, criminal careers, desistance from crime, police encounters, labeling theory, juvenile delinquency
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