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My understanding is that this has been studied, and criminals are deterred almost entirely by the certainty of being caught, and almost not at all by the severi
by justinpombrio 11y ago
My understanding is that this has been studied, and criminals are deterred almost entirely by the certainty of being caught, and almost not at all by the severity of punishment.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoVaries. Texas sentenced petty criminals to hoe potatoes in the desert sun. Petty crime recidivism plummeted in Texas.
- mseebach 11y agoThe problem with this line of argument is the assumption that deterrence is the only purpose of punishment. Justice (in the hard-to-quantify sense referenced by the GP) for the victim and community (and on a practical tangent, the deterrence of vigilante justice) is a pretty significant purpose of punishment.