well, its been a while, but I remember seeing a study that states with the death penalty actually had higher incidence of violent crime. From that, it was posit

well, its been a while, but I remember seeing a study that states with the death penalty actually had higher incidence of violent crime. From that, it was posited that the existence of harsher punishments don't seem to offer much deterrent value because criminals do not expect to be caught. Further, there was discussion that state-sponsored demonstrations of power/punishment play a role in normalizing that behavior in the first place. Personally, I think both categories are likely true, but I couldn't comment on the effect size. One thing that law enforcement stats generally indicate is that a great deal of property crime is uninvestigated and unsolved. Maybe that is fine, but detailing, "we tried our literal best surveillance methods and have not managed to reduce convenience store robberies" gives an edge to those who would like to premeditate. Of course, if they think they won't get caught in the first place, it doesn't matter.