Have you studied this kind of crime specifically, and looked at specific sentencing terms, eg. 5 vs. 10 vs. 15 years? I'm guessing no, and more than likely ther

Have you studied this kind of crime specifically, and looked at specific sentencing terms, eg. 5 vs. 10 vs. 15 years? I'm guessing no, and more than likely there's no data available for this. My understanding is that even in cases where deterrents are known to work poorly, there's still some effect. For example, with drug addicts, there are diminishing returns in as little as a couple days, but I think there was still SOME effect. It just winds up being mostly pointless, because a weekend sentence works pretty much the same as eg. months to years or more. You should be careful about extrapolating from behavioral studies, and other crimes. It's not just about deterrent IMO. I also care about justice, fairness, and making it not worth it to commit white collar crimes. If the sentence is not substantial, you've basically gotten away with it to me. It's worth 1-5 years in prison to spend 5-10 years in luxury, being told how amazing you are. Maybe not for me, but it certainly is for a lot of people. A ton of white collar criminals end up better off for their crimes, if you're not harsh enough.