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Lower probability of conviction can be addressed by increased severity of punishment upon conviction.
by abecedarius 8y ago
Lower probability of conviction can be addressed by increased severity of punishment upon conviction.
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y agoIf that were true then we should expect the US to have a significantly lower rate of crime than other Western democracies given that: the United States had by far the highest reported rate of incarceration in the world. Today, adult incarceration rates of the Western European democracies average around 100 per 100,000, and in the common law countries of Australia and Canada, the rates are only slightly higher. The U.S. rate in 2012 was seven times higher, at 707 per 100,000.[1] For this to be possible the US must have been incarcerating more people, for longer, than other countries, which by your logic would reduce the rate of crime. I was under the impression it was widely accepted that increased severity of punishment had only a small effect on rates of crime. The report I've referenced seems to agree. 1. Refer page 335 here http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/nrc/NAS_report_on_incarceration.pdf http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/nrc/NAS_report_on_incarceration... I found that PDF here https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ethics-in-question/201509/harsh-justice https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ethics-in-question/2...