Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Testing Specific Deterrence In The National Basketball Association: An Application Of Beccaria's Theory Of Deterrence, Michael Mccutcheon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the concept of deterrence has been applied to punishment in America’s criminal justice system, the empirical data is mixed on whether is effectively deters crime. This lack of consensus may be a result of missing elements from deterrence theory; namely, that punishment is often neither swift nor certain. Similar to the criminal justice system, professional sports leagues aim to control behavior of athletes by having guidelines that, when violated, result in punishment. However, these punishments are delivered much quicker and there is a higher level of certainty. The current study examines specific deterrence in the National Basketball Association by …