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They claim that punishment does, after all, have a deterrent effect on crime.I think the early drugs education probably does have a deterrent effect.The deterrent effect appears to have been minimal.
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variable noun [adjective NOUN] 
The effect of one thing on another is the change that the first thing causes in the second thing.
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
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deterrent effect
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Definition of deterrent effect from the Collins English Dictionary
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