Punishment and deterrence: A comment on south (1998)

Abstract

South's (1998) paper extends discussion on an important social policy issue. Given that Australian Psychological Society position papers are designed to draw out policy implications from well-established psychological knowledge, his criticism of the failure of the position paper on punishment and behaviour change to cover evidence from other disciplines is inappropriate. However, we agree that psychology has much to gain from interdisciplinary contact. We endorse his call for psychology to become more involved in theory-building regarding general deterrence, but are sceptical about whether such a theory can have universal applicability. Driving offences, research on which forms the basis for South's proposals, differ substantially from other types of offenses such that deterrence requirements are also likely to differ. The effectiveness of specific deterrents and rehabilitation will vary by type of offence, offender and program, and they should not be dismissed outright as cost-ineffective. Psychology could become more involved in these and related arenas, and particularly also in their evaluation. We hope South's paper will encourage more psychologists to take up these challenging issues.