1

Deterrence versus prevention

As mentioned earlier, prevent and deter can sometimes mean the same thing.
Deter is often used when the other party has a choice. It generally implies threatening to take an
action

in

response.

The police can deter a bad person from breaking the law. (The police are threatening to put
someone

in

jail

hurt

them.)

Nuclear deterrence is based on mutually assured destruction. (You are deterring a country from
using

nuclear

weapon.)

Prevent can be used more generally -- the thing that is happening may not be a person or
organization.

Prevention

implies

preparation.

The goalie's job is to prevent the ball from going in the goal. (You can't deter a ball.)
Locking
Using

your
a

doors

spellchecker

can
can

prevent

prevent

typing

crime.
mistakes.

Wearing a condom can prevent disease transmission.

"Deter" means to persuade/threaten someone from doing something. Prevent means to stop
something/someone

by

physical

or

other

means.

Examples:1. In my classes I deter students from being rude to each other by asking them to stay
behind

for

minutes

after

the

lesson.

2. Teachers can prevent students from fighting in the yard at lunch time by standing in between
them.
Both are quite similar. Deter means to discourage someone from doing something, and prevent
means to obstruct a person from doing something. Either one can be used in the same sentence. :
Well the main difference between a deterrence and a prevention in this situation is most easily
put by saying, they are going to try to deter (persuade) Iran into stopping the research and
development of nuclear warheads and other nuclear devices. Preventing them would be
physically putting a stop to their efforts by either some how getting a UN sanction or going in by
force, which is most likely the option the US will use. Well if you go by their track record.

In deterrent theory the punishment is inflicted as deterrent to make the criminal an example.
Punishment is the major goal of law.
In preventive thoery punishment is inflicted as disabler so that the criminal can't repeat the
offense. Major goal is avoiding that the crime happens again.
Deterrence is at the heart of the preventive aspiration of criminal justice. Deterrence, whether
through preventive patrol by police officers or stiff prison sentences for violent offenders, is the
principal mechanism through which the central feature of criminal justice, the exercise of state
authority, works it is hoped -- to diminish offending and enhance public safety. And however
well we think deterrence works, it clearly often does not work nearly as well as we would like
and often at very great cost.
Drawing on a wide range of scholarly literatures and real-world experience, Kennedy argues that
we should reframe the ways in which we think about and produce deterrence. He argues that
many of the ways in which we seek to deter crime in fact facilitate offending; that simple steps
such as providing clear information to offenders could transform deterrence; that communities
may be far more effective than legal authorities in deterring crime; that apparently minor
sanctions can deter more effectively than draconian ones; that groups, rather than individual
offenders, should often be the focus of deterrence; that existing legal tools can be used in unusual
but greatly more effective ways; that even serious offenders can be reached through deliberate
moral engagement; and that authorities, communities, and offenders no matter how divided
share and can occupy hidden common ground.
The result is a sophisticated but ultimately common-sense and profoundly hopeful case that we
can and should use new deterrence strategies to address some of our most important crime
problems. Drawing on and expanding on the lessons of groundbreaking real-world work like
Bostons Operation Ceasefire credited with the "Boston Miracle" of the 1990s "Deterrence
and Crime Prevention" is required reading for scholars, law enforcement practitioners, and all
with an interest in public safety and the health of communities.