Raising penalty severity theoretically deters crime but complex systems prevent it
Evidence
Deterrence is no humbug: if we jack up real penalties, we will definitely scare away some customers for crime, just as a stiff rise in the price of lettuce or toys scares off some buyers. In the real world, this is a mighty big if. “Severity” is easier said than done. The system is too complex to move easily and quickly. And severe laws can produce nasty, unwanted side effects. All of this makes deterrence hard to measure and hard to predict, and also hard to harness and control. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1135
Categorization
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
- XREF: connects to: Punishment deters when its expected cost merely exceeds crime’s benefit — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 154; Certainty, not severity, makes punishment deter because it fixes crime-punishment links in minds — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 157; Feigned punishment could deter crime without real suffering — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 28 (+10 more)
Broader Connections
- Certainty, not severity, makes punishment deter because it fixes crime-punishment links in minds
#expands(0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 157 - Punishment deters when its expected cost merely exceeds crime’s benefit
#qualifies(0.80) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 154 - Certainty of apprehension deters drug crime but severity of punishment does not
#contradicts(0.75) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1075 - Moral self-sanctions and social censure deter crime more than legal penalties do
#complicates(0.75) - Punishment severity does not affect crime rates
#contradicts(0.75) - Codified legal codes deter crime through abstract certainty of punishment
#contradicts(0.75) - Abstract legal codification deters crime by engineering a mental link between offense and punishment
#contradicts(0.75) - Punishment’s severity must aim at future prevention, not past harm
#qualifies(0.72) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 152 - Low punishment rates make the puzzle why crime is not far more common.
#complicates(0.72) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1378 - Punishment scales with the unfairness of the wrongdoing, not with deterrence needs
#contradicts(0.72) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 103 - Feigned punishment could deter crime without real suffering
#qualifies(0.70) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 28 - Criminal punishment patterns lack deterrence or retributive logic
#corroborates(0.70) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 710 - Penalties target the inmate’s transformation, not the exchange value of the crime
#complicates(0.70) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 374