What does DTK need?

[ijmorlan]

The problem is that the deterrence effect of punishment changes depending on the crime and the motivations for it.

Punishment has little effect on a persons crimes of passion or crimes of desperation (the types of crimes we're most often talking about here).

But they do have significant effect on crimes of convenience (which are the types of crimes that most people, like you and I) are almost exclusively contemplating committing. The most obvious example is traffic violations:

Another category which I believe can be affected by sentencing is economic crimes, typically although not always committed by wealthy individuals. Essentially I mean businesses whose operations depends on committing crimes. For example, bulk shoplifting, where a whole gang of people goes into a store and cleans out a section, or fraudulent educational institutions. I think well-off people who have the ability to run a business will think carefully about the penalties, and are likely to stay away from anything that has a good chance of putting them in prison.