The Capacity to Punish

This book examines the relationship between crime, demographic characteristics, criminal justice resources, court processing and final sanctioning outcomes at the court level in the U.S. in the context of deterrence theory. It concludes that current criminal justice practices, especially the extremely low probability of certain and severe punishment, make the deterrent effect of punishment minimal under the current system of criminal justice. Court caseloads, influenced particularly be the degree of inequality in the population, appear to be pushing down the formal penalty structures, and hence the probability of sanction. The inability of courts to produce severe and certain sanctions is also linked to the overfunding of police relative to other criminal justice agencies, especially the office of the prosecutor. Putting more cops on the beat might actually lead to further erosion of the deterrent effect of punishment, as more violators are pushed through the 'revolving door' of the courts.