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> petty theft doesn't really cause that much damage Sure it does. Insurance rates. Compare rates for San Francisco vs. Houston for comprehensive coverage. Or S
by briandear 8y ago
> petty theft doesn't really cause that much damage
Sure it does. Insurance rates. Compare rates for San Francisco vs. Houston for comprehensive coverage. Or San Francisco vs. Cupertino for that matter. Every smash and grab costs everyone more money.
Prop 47 is a big culprit. These thieves can cause $1000 in damage to a car, but their prosecution is pretty much pointless.
If we want to talk cost benefit analysis, prosecuting armed robbery with no injuries doesn’t make sense either: if the robber gets $100, and it costs $100,000 to imprison them, then that’s a bad cost benefit return right? If you want to operate under a cost benefit analysis, jail time should only be required if whatever damage is done exceeds the cost of incarceration. That’s absurd, but that’s what a cost benefit analysis would reveal, assuming costs are measured in dollars.
Broken windows policing works [1].
https://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/the-matrix/micro-places/micro-places-braga-et-al-1999/ https://cebcp.org/evidence-based-policing/the-matrix/micro-p...
- callalex 8y agoWhy is this comment, which is sourced and well argued, greyed out without a single response?
- mantas 8y agoBecause many people wants no people in jails. Can't stop people from committing crime? Well, don't put them in a jail and bam, you have no people in jails! Who cares about what someone feels after they get robbed. Public feeling safe does not register on RoI report.
- michaelt 8y agoif the robber gets $100, and it costs $100,000 to imprison them, then that’s a bad cost benefit return right? Depends if it deters him and 9 other robbers, who would otherwise have committed 100 such crimes each. I mean, if a criminal is operating under rational choice theory [1] and they know their crime will go unpunished even if it is detected, why wouldn't they steal packages? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_theory_(criminology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rational_choice_theory_(crimin...