yes
Discourages is a verb.
volcanic
no it cannot. PS, you said discourages instead of discourage. that is incorrect.
The noun forms for the verb to deter are deterer, determent, deterrent, and the gerund, deterring.
It discourages it
Bubba
Prior restraint
A trust
A trust
The stupid ones
The promotion system used in police department often discourages talented people. It does this by limiting administrative flexibility to promote.
Islam discourages any representation of the prophet Mohammed. Judaism discourages any representation of G-d. Some Jewish authorities also discourage respresentation of angels.