A Small State’s Cyber Posture: Deterrence by Punishment and Beyond

Capital Punishment and Deterrence: Understanding Disparate Results

The panel data literature on deterrence and capital punishment contains a wide range of empirical claims despite the use of common data sets for analysis. We interpret the diversity of findings in the literature in terms of differences in statistical model assumptions. Rather than attempt to determine a “best” model from which to draw empirical evidence on deterrence and the death penalty, this...

Prison Conditions, Capital Punishment, and Deterrence

Previous research has attempted to identify a deterrent effect of capital punishment. We argue that the quality of life in prison is likely to have a greater impact on criminal behavior than the death penalty. Using state-level panel data covering the period 1950±90, we demonstrate that the death rate among prisoners (the best available proxy for prison conditions) is negatively correlated with...

Deterrence, Influence, Cyber Attack, and Cyberwar

* Paul K. Davis is a senior principal researcher at the RAND Corporation and a professor of policy analysis in the Pardee RAND Graduate School. His early studies were in the hard sciences and he received a Ph.D. in theoretical chemical physics at M.I.T. After working on strategic technology and systems analysis at the Institute for Defense Analyses, he joined the U.S. government to work on stra...

Rethinking the Cyber Domain and Deterrence

Alternatives to Cyber Warfare: Deterrence and Assurance

Deterrence as practiced during the Cold War was largely defined in terms of capabilities to impose punishment in response to an attack; however, with growing concern over the proliferation of cyber technologies, deterrence has evolved to be understood more generally in terms of cost/benefit calculi, viewed from not only a national perspective, but also recognizing the importance of both friendl...