4 ms·

> Another side of this is that the harsher you make the punishments for small crimes, the less you discourage moving up to bigger crimes. Maybe everybody shoul

by bch 12y ago

> Another side of this is that the harsher you make the punishments for small crimes, the less you discourage moving up to bigger crimes. Maybe everybody should go to prison for a while to stop crime before it even starts. Disproportionate penalties may be as likely to harden them as reform them. What you get out isn't a repentant model citizen. Unless your goal is to let these people rot and die and just release corpses.

mikeash 12y ago
This is a reasonable comment, but what does it have to do with the comment you replied to?
- matthewowen 12y ago
  I think he misread it. I had to absorb the sentiment of the rest of the post and re-read your first line a few times to properly parse it. For me, "the less you discourage" reads less clearly than "the more you encourage". I realise that the two aren't identical in meaning, but I would have chosen the latter because a compounded minimization ("the less you don't do x") is generally less immediately clear than a maximization ("the more you do x"). This is compounded by your opening of "Another side of this". This can mean "another aspect of the problem you describe which agrees with your point" but it can also mean "another aspect of how sentencing should work that comes to a different conclusion". For many, the latter is more intuitive ("two sides to every story" etc etc). Not passing judgement on how you worded your post, just explaining why someone might misread it.
  - mikeash 12y ago
    Fair. Looks like he's not alone, too. I'll keep that in mind!
- bch 12y ago
  You know -- I think we're on the same page wrt how the punishment really ought to fit the crime; I misread what you were saying :) Maybe I should take it down -- initially I thought you were talking about discouraging crime w/ a big punishment, but in fact you were talking about discouraging a criminals restraint because they're already going to get nailed in a big way... I think I'll take mine down and let your original post stand. Edit: or I'll just leave it so the flow is preserved -- there's a thread here now that explains everything. Let the downvotes fit the crime though, please ;)
  - mikeash 12y ago
    Leaving it is good by me. Like I said, it's a reasonable comment, just seemed out of place since it sounded like disagreement but said the same thing. Now that everyone knows what's up, it fits fine.

by bch 12y ago

mikeash 12y ago

This is a reasonable comment, but what does it have to do with the comment you replied to?

matthewowen 12y ago
I think he misread it. I had to absorb the sentiment of the rest of the post and re-read your first line a few times to properly parse it. For me, "the less you discourage" reads less clearly than "the more you encourage". I realise that the two aren't identical in meaning, but I would have chosen the latter because a compounded minimization ("the less you don't do x") is generally less immediately clear than a maximization ("the more you do x"). This is compounded by your opening of "Another side of this". This can mean "another aspect of the problem you describe which agrees with your point" but it can also mean "another aspect of how sentencing should work that comes to a different conclusion". For many, the latter is more intuitive ("two sides to every story" etc etc). Not passing judgement on how you worded your post, just explaining why someone might misread it.
- mikeash 12y ago
  Fair. Looks like he's not alone, too. I'll keep that in mind!
bch 12y ago
You know -- I think we're on the same page wrt how the punishment really ought to fit the crime; I misread what you were saying :) Maybe I should take it down -- initially I thought you were talking about discouraging crime w/ a big punishment, but in fact you were talking about discouraging a criminals restraint because they're already going to get nailed in a big way... I think I'll take mine down and let your original post stand. Edit: or I'll just leave it so the flow is preserved -- there's a thread here now that explains everything. Let the downvotes fit the crime though, please ;)
- mikeash 12y ago
  Leaving it is good by me. Like I said, it's a reasonable comment, just seemed out of place since it sounded like disagreement but said the same thing. Now that everyone knows what's up, it fits fine.