Sivla-Alegna t1_ix9astd wrote on November 21, 2022 at 7:01 PM

Reply to comment by ScootyHoofdorp in City reaches 300th homicide for 8th year in a row by Maxcactus

As someone that use to commit a fair amount of petty crimes, I never once thought about the consequences before or during the acts. In the rare instance that I didn't think about the consequences, it was afterwards, which isn't super helpful in preventing crime. And humans have an uncanny ability to justify things that they have done, even subconsciously. "Those people have so much, they won't really miss it." "It's a coproation with billions in profits, they don't need all that anyway." "They have insurance that will cover everything." "My life sucks, this isn't going to make it any worse." "Atleast I'd get 3 meals a day and a warm bed in jail." "It's not like I have other options." "If I don't do it, someone else will. I might as well be the one benefiting from it." .......

ScootyHoofdorp t1_ixcnc0q wrote on November 22, 2022 at 1:14 PM

Yeah, that all makes sense. Real world data on a bigger scale disagrees with your conclusions, though. The perception of punishment comes from largely from policing and the presence of police. We even have a local example that demonstrates that quite well. The aftermath of the Freddie Gray riots proves that when there's less policing, there's more crime.