8 ms·
> Jailtime? The cost-benefit analysis doesn't support that, prison time is expensive and petty theft doesn't really cause that much damage. You're not consider
by speedplane 8y ago
> Jailtime? The cost-benefit analysis doesn't support that, prison time is expensive and petty theft doesn't really cause that much damage.
You're not considering deterrence. Sure, the cost/benefit of an individual does not support jailing a small-time thief. However, other potential thiefs may be deterred from committing the crime in the first place. This aggregate level of crime reduction often does justify itself in a cost/benefit analysis.
- build_products 8y agoIs deterrence really a thing? Multiple studies show that more severe punishments don't actually deter because the people committing the xrime almost never think of them. See https://nij.gov/five-things/Pages/deterrence.aspx https://nij.gov/five-things/Pages/deterrence.aspx
- dpark 8y ago#3 on that list is all about deterrence. “Police deter crime by increasing the perception that criminals will be caught and punished.” If criminals believe that the cost/benefit analysis will leave their crimes uninvestigated and unpunished, then yes, they are more likely to commit crimes.
- gojomo 8y ago#1 on the list you forwarded is: "The certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment." #3 is "Police deter crime by increasing the perception that criminals will be caught and punished." Stings run by police, generating stories of caught-criminals, and making it so that repeat offenders face a rapidly-escalating likelihood of being caught, would seem to deter, by the evidence at your link.
- foxyv 8y agoUsually the major deterrent to crime is the likelihood of being caught. A lot of research has shown that longer sentences don't deter, however getting caught more often does. https://nij.gov/five-things/pages/deterrence.aspx https://nij.gov/five-things/pages/deterrence.aspx