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A long time ago now, Slashdot had a discussion on the death penalty and the deterrence argument was being tossed around. A cop spoke up and the essence of his
by intended 14y ago
A long time ago now, Slashdot had a discussion on the death penalty and the deterrence argument was being tossed around.
A cop spoke up and the essence of his point was: The punishment doesn't matter, as much as the sure knowledge that you will be caught.
- monochromatic 14y agoWell if some random cop said it, it must be true. Also, how do we make sure people know they're going to get caught? This is comparing something we can control (sentencing) to something we can't (absolute certainty of catching every criminal).
- intended 14y agoLike all management, just because you can control and measure something (sentencing) doesn't mean it will help you achieve your goal (lower crime). Think of it in terms of the broken window effect - if people (all subsections of soceity) know that they are very likely to be caught, then they are very unlikely to commit a crime no matter what the punishment. Only un-meditated crimes would likely slip through the gap. Also if a cop says it, it may mean nothing, but then when coders say different things, it would mean equally little would it not? At least the cop has real world experience. That said I'll see if I can find some studies to back it up.