Do criminals actually respond to deterrents though? Sam Harris argues otherwise in a couple of podcasts and I tend to agree...people break the law constantly without thought of the penalties. People text while driving when that could kill someone else.
I don't really believe anyone reacts to harsh deterrents for a low probability outcome. The only way is to increase the probability of being caught, but that's super super hard. So instead, we just throw the people we do catch in jail for life.
It's so fucked up, it makes me disgusted even thinking about it.
I don't believe they do either. For example, it's often said that the death penalty is used as a deterrent, though it is clear from the data that isn't true.
