Also known as: disincentives · disincentivize · disincentivized · disincentivizing · deterrent
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A deterrent to a particular type of conduct, often created intentionally or unintentionally through legislation or judicial rules.
Darius Dixon's home is searched after officers rely on a warrant containing a typographical error in the address. The court weighs whether to suppress the seized contraband. Application of the exclusionary rule supplies a disincentive against isolated or negligent police errors by denying the prosecution the benefit of the evidence.
Officers enter Dylan Duffy's apartment without knocking or announcing their presence and seize narcotics. Duffy moves to suppress the evidence. The knock-and-announce rule's purposes are too remote from the evidentiary benefit, so exclusion would impose excessive costs without meaningful disincentive against future violations.
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Darrell Duncan buys a new car whose paint job was intentionally concealed as defective by the manufacturer. A jury awards punitive damages far exceeding state statutory fines. The award functions as a disincentive against similar deceptive practices by making the economic cost of misconduct exceed any profit gained.
Destiny Davis, a political donor, challenges mandatory disclosure of contributions above a threshold. The reporting obligation creates a disincentive for large anonymous gifts by exposing donors to public scrutiny and potential retaliation.
Diana Delgado seeks to open an adult theater in a commercial zone. City of Renton ordinances confine such businesses to limited industrial areas. The location rules impose a disincentive on operators by increasing operating costs and reducing customer access.
Diego Duarte is compelled to produce business records that later incriminate him in a tax prosecution. The Fifth Amendment protection removes a disincentive against truthful testimony by ensuring that the act of production itself cannot be used against the witness.
A clause requiring double reimbursement for cooperating with journalists investigating an insurer creates a financial disincentive against transparency. The term penalizes protected activity and is unenforceable when the public policy favoring accountability outweighs enforcement interests.
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Adoption of the business judgment rule limits judicial review of honest mistakes, thereby reducing the threat of personal liability that would otherwise discourage members from serving as unpaid directors or officers.
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Options and rights of first refusal that create contingent interests can restrain alienability and provide a disincentive to improve property. The Rule Against Perpetuities is considered inappropriate for such transactions, leading to fixed-year limits instead.
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…with the problem. But even had the Federal Rules purported to do so, and in so doing provided a substantially less effective deterrent to strike suits, I think the state rule should still have prevailed. That is where I believe the Court’s view differs from mine; for the Court attributes such overriding force to the…