Note: Individually Focused Deterrence: A Proposed Incentives-Based Non- Prosecution Strategy for Second Chances and its Constitutional Hurdles

Abstract

The United States of America is home to just five percent of the world’s population, and yet it holds twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners. Conservative politicians around the nation tend to capitalize on a fervor of anti-crime sentiments to boost themselves to higher office and position themselves as ‘tough on crime.’ Liberal and libertarian politicians tend to focus the conversation on reducing prison populations through vague promises of criminal justice reform. But new penalties seem to materialize every day as legislators criminalize a wide array of behaviors and prosecutors prioritize enforcement of a greater amount of offenses. Rather than reinforcing the classic provisions of Focused Deterrence which revolves around an intense aim against individual- or group-selected subjects for prosecution, this Note seeks to re-center the discussion on alternative non-prosecution strategies that aim to reintegrate potential and past offenders through incentive-based programs. Further, this Note points to the societal success of other anti-recidivist programs, akin to general probation programs, that buttress the case for Focused Deterrence.