Criminal deterrence as a public health strategy

Deterrence is an established theme in criminal justice, but its role in pre vention of assault has been treated with ambivalence and even hostility in medicine. The extent to which offenders can be persuaded, through knowledge of criminal and health risks, not to Injure others is emerging from studie s of the health effects of firearm and other crime legislation, and from ma cro-level studies and controlled experiments of police interventions. There is convincing evidence that motorists can be deterred from alcohol-impaire d driving, and-recognition that specific, targeted, and visible police work and increasing certainty of punishment are effective interventions. By con trast, duration of imprisonment and generic police initiatives such as blan ket increases in police numbers seem to have little effect on deterrence, a t least in the context of the decline in US homicide rates since 1991, to w hich demographic and economic factors seem to have contributed little. Toge ther with established and cost-effective preschool education and early fami ly support, targeted policing and increasing rates of conviction should be integrated into strategies for injury prevention.