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Randomized Controlled Trial in Criminology×Deterrence Analysis×
FieldCriminologyCriminology
FamilyProcess / pipelineProcess / pipeline
Year of origin19951968
OriginatorLawrence W. Sherman & David WeisburdCesare Beccaria & Jeremy Bentham (classical); Gary Becker & Daniel Nagin (modern)
TypeExperimental impact evaluation of justice interventionsTheory and empirical analysis of how punishment deters offending
Seminal sourceSherman, L. W., & Weisburd, D. (1995). General deterrent effects of police patrol in crime hot spots: A randomized, controlled trial. Justice Quarterly, 12(4), 625–648. DOI ↗Nagin, D. S. (2013). Deterrence in the twenty-first century: A review of the evidence. Crime and Justice, 42(1), 199–263. DOI ↗
AliasesCriminological Field Experiment, Experimental Criminology Trial, Place-Based Randomized Trial, Justice RCTDeterrence Theory, Certainty-Severity-Celerity Analysis, Perceptual Deterrence Analysis, Focused Deterrence Analysis
Related44
SummaryA randomized controlled trial (RCT) in criminology evaluates a justice intervention — such as hot-spots policing, a deterrence message, or a reentry program — by randomly assigning units (places, people, or cases) to receive the intervention or to serve as controls. Because assignment is by chance, treatment and control groups are statistically equivalent at baseline, so any later difference in crime or reoffending can be attributed to the intervention rather than to selection. Sherman and Weisburd's 1995 Minneapolis hot-spots patrol experiment helped establish the design as the gold standard of experimental criminology.Deterrence analysis studies how the threat and imposition of legal punishment discourage crime. Rooted in classical criminology and formalized in Gary Becker's economic model, it distinguishes the certainty, severity, and celerity of punishment, separates perceived from objective sanction risk, and uses quasi-experimental and perceptual evidence — synthesized by Daniel Nagin — to test how much, and through what channels, punishment actually deters.
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ScholarGateCompare methods: Randomized Controlled Trial in Criminology · Deterrence Analysis. Retrieved 2026-06-24 from https://scholargate.app/en/compare