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A comment on Union Pacific Addresses LA Cargo Thefts; Problem Requires Collective Effort. Parent comment

Re:Union Pacific Addresses LA Cargo Thefts; Problem Requires... by berberous on Monday January 17, 2022 @01:40AM (#29963955)
Some of this is really just common sense. I believe the following:

- If murder were not prosecuted, or punished by only a day in jail, murder rates would increase. It would effectively be legal.

- Changing the sentence on murder from 10 years to life, however, would be unlikely to have any marginal deterrent effect.

Stated more generally, I think many sentences in this country are horrifically long, and dramatically shortening them would not increase crime. But if you decrease them to a level where they are de minimis compared to the benefit of the crime, or just not prosecuted at all, I don’t need a study to tell me crime will increase. It is human nature.

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Re:Union Pacific Addresses LA Cargo Thefts; Problem Requires... by efitz on Monday January 17, 2022 @10:19AM (#29967374)
Exactly! Beyond a certain threshold, increasing punishment severity has diminishing returns (or negative, if you count the fiscal and societal costs of incarceration).
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Re:Union Pacific Addresses LA Cargo Thefts; Problem Requires... by tomlockwood on Monday January 17, 2022 @02:09AM (#29964113)
I've heard incorrect folk wisdom parroted as if it were true, before, so I'll wait for the study.

Plenty of people claim they have a grasp on common sense, and many of them disagree.

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Re:Union Pacific Addresses LA Cargo Thefts; Problem Requires... by efitz on Monday January 17, 2022 @10:20AM (#29967391)
Do you eat when you’re hungry and put on a raincoat outside when it’s raining, or do you wait for a study?
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Re:Union Pacific Addresses LA Cargo Thefts; Problem Requires... by tomlockwood on Monday January 17, 2022 @05:05PM (#29972202)
Hilarious that you bought up "eating when hungry" as an example of common sense considering all the discussion about that recently. Folk wisdom loses, again :) I think I will wait for the study.
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