The materials were all published from 1956 to 1965 and 1984 to 1993. The journals included Criminology, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Law and Society Review, American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, and Social Forces. The analysis focused on the number and percentage of journal articles and pages, and the percentage of textbook pages. It also focused on whether the textbooks covered several important deterrence topics and accurately reported new concepts and research findings in the deterrence literature. Results revealed that although the amount of deterrence research reported in leading journals increased markedly, the recent criminology textbooks provide little more coverage of the topic than did the earlier textbooks. In addition, many recent textbooks make incorrect claims about the effectiveness of punishments as deterrents. Many textbooks also inaccurately report various findings from important deterrence studies. Thus, the textbooks and the journals are gradually growing farther apart. Tables, appended list of textbooks, and 100 references (Author abstract modified)