General Deterrence

• It focuses on trying to prevent everyone committing crimes in the first place. Marxists argue that the bourgeoisie use the criminal justice system as a tool to exploit and oppress the proletariat. Public severe punishments, carried out by the bourgeoisie on a member of the proletariat, will prevent the proletariat from rising up against the bourgeoisie.
• Public shaming started in the USA as a way to prevent the individuals from reoffending / repeating their behaviour and to deter everyone from offending. eg. "I was rude to the bus driver" a sign worn by the offender. They also implemented the ‘3 strikes and you're out'- if people committed 3 crimes

  with one of them as a violent or sexual crime they go to jail for life (California).
• Death Penalty as an example of Social Learning Theory; the public can observe a criminal receiving the death penalty so won’t imitate their behaviour because they don’t want the same consequences.
• Lingchi

  This was primarily practiced in China also known as slow slicing and was a form of punishment and torture. It involved repeatedly slicing the offenders’ flesh beyond the point of death. If this was executed publicly, general deterrence would be in place: it would deter potential criminals from offending in the first place.