Incapacitation

Incapacitation as a crime control policy refers to a variety of policies and measures that attempt to increase the public’s security by restricting a criminal offender, through either confining to prison or surveilling the person in society (e.g., parole). From a conjectural basis, criminal and juvenile justice literature suggests that the use of incapacitation measures predominantly stem from two academic perspectives: (1) deterrence theory and (2) incapacitation theory. Based on the assumption that humans are rational, the deterrence theory argues that discouraging offensive behavior is probable by imposing certain severe penalties on individuals. In terms of incapacitation, this would suggest that the likelihood of experiencing incarceration or imprisonment may lead individuals to resist the urge to engage in offensive behavior. Another significant theory related to ...