This paper aims to explore the deterrence of adult offenders in the United States’ prison
and parole system through analyzing data conducted from the Annual Parole Survey, released from
the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2007. Deterrence theory, treating criminal behavior as rational,
is employed to research how the severity of the sanction given could have played a role in reducing
reoffending rates. Labeling theory is also relevant when explaining any potential indications of
failure of the justice system program. Conducting a multivariate linear regression analysis for each
variable, the project examines the variability in independent variables of sentence length and
offense type. The deterrent outcomes are found through the recidivism rates of the facility
populations, specifically the dependent variable of total count in percentage of adult parolees
returned to incarceration with a new sentence. The results from the described model suggest an
overall positive and significant linear relationship with the total count of population with longer
sentence lengths and more severe offense types. Implications of these findings and
recommendations on how to improve the study for future research is detailed in the conclusion.
