Punishing Smarter Programs

The concept of punishing smarter is often used to describe deterrence-based initiatives. During the get-tough movement of the 1980s and 1990s, these included popular strategies such as boot camps, three strikes and you’re out policies, and mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders. Although the aforementioned sanctions and initiatives have been criticized for not having a significant impact on crime rates, deterrence-based policies have not lost their favor. There are a number of reasons these initiatives endure, but it is partly attributed to the fact that they often rely on commonsense strategies that are politically popular. Regardless, their persistence is perplexing in light of the vast literature regarding the limits of punitive-based strategies and the promise of the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model as an alternative. This entry ...