Specific Deterrence

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The criminal and civil law includes different methods of resolving disputes to provide protection for individuals and their rights. It is highly effective considering it ensures people are protected from crimes, offences or disputes. As such, the laws of society will be explored.

Australia's current legal system does not acknowledge or identify individuals right due to the present protection of individual rights from Australia's Constitution, common law and legislation, which have been established through the Commonwealth or State Parliaments, contrasting to the US system with a Bill of Rights. Individuals have the right to vote, the right to a trial, freedom of religion and the forbidding of discrimination. Additionally, in relation to criminal …show more content…

It does this by discouraging individuals from committing crimes through the deterrence of punishments that range from monetary fines to imprisonment. The two types of deterrence, general and specific, protect individuals and society as a whole from the repercussions of crime by laws that state the punitive consequences of criminal activity. A general deterrence is when the public learns of an individual punishment due to offences committed, resulting in the public’s reluctance to commit crime, because of the consequences of legal punishment. Specific deterrence refers to the individual defendant. When an individual learn of their punishment from a crime, they are less likely to commit another crime because of the fear of a similar punishment. For example, Brandon Osborn, who shot his partner in North-western Victoria last year was initially sentenced to nine years in jail. If it wasn't for the fact of his early guilty plea and his show of remorse and his potential for rehabilitation, the sentence would have been longer as he would have been charged with murder instead of manslaughter and a firearm offence. Hence, a specific deterrent from the fear of punishment gave protection to society from this individual who violated a law which is designed to harshly punish such

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