3 ms·

> The death penalty didn't stop ... Are you sure? How would you be sure? If there's even a few people who've come close to committing a crime, then consider

• WalterBright 5y ago
  > Are you sure? Since people kept getting hung for pickpocketing, the thread obviously failed to deter them. > isn't that "stopping" it? Reduce it, maybe, but not stopping it.
  • neolog 5y ago
    > getting hung for pickpocketing When/where did this happen?
    • WalterBright 5y ago
      https://academic.oup.com/aler/article-abstract/4/2/295/251447?redirectedFrom=PDF https://academic.oup.com/aler/article-abstract/4/2/295/25144... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickpocketing#Prosecution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickpocketing#Prosecution All you gotta do is google "hung for pickpocketing".
• WalterBright 5y ago
  I find human psychology interesting, like Cialdini's book on persuasion. It seems that people are generally bad at making rational risk/reward decisions, even well-educated ones. (This explains the popularity of lotteries, for example.) Another way it's been put is people don't do fractions. They do not distinguish very well getting $10 as a reward vs getting $100. The same with gifts not being appreciated in proportion to the value of them - summed up in the phrase "it's the thought that counts." I expect it's pretty much the same for penalties. I seriously doubt, for example, if a 1 year prison sentence does not deter, 5 years would.