I wish all headlines read like this instead of "here's why you should be scared"
There is no research I’m aware of on people for whom the prospect of punishment did act as a deterrent (i.e. people who decided not to commit the crime).
So I argue that there is a very big selection bias in literature surrounding the effectiveness of punishment as a deterrent .
Punishment absolutely works as deterrent. Boy I know people that would absolutely forge the tax declaration, if it wasn't a terrible fine if they do!
The key point is the probability of the punishment being enforced. There is a trade off calculation going on, like "I could get 5 years prison and 10 grand fine... IF they catch me!". Studies suggest, that if you have 100% probability of being caught, then the punishment is extremely good deterrent.
Surely this can’t be true - as a trivial example I would be surprised if removing parking fines wouldn’t increase parking violations, or if Singapore stopped punishing littering that it wouldn’t affect the amount of littering etc
Maybe the difference between a 10 year or 20 year sentence for murder doesn’t make much difference, but if murder had no punishment at all I would be very surprised if that wouldn’t raise the murder rate!
I think this just highlights how stupid the idea is that punishment doesn’t act as a deterrent
Of course, those prisoners aren’t billionaire healthcare CEOs, so maybe not…
However, I don't think it's practical to get fraudsters to pay back all the money in most cases as they won't be able to. What we need is a faster way to detect and imprison fraudsters to limit the damage they do. Also, most people don't respond to the "size" of punishments, but more to the likelihood that they will be caught.
And no, the severity of the crime does not (IMHO) justify it.
AMENDMENT XIII
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
The constitution isn't a holy book, it's some opinions someone wrote down on paper. Some of them might be wrong.
Federal prisons pay roughly $0.12 to $0.40 per hour for regular jobs, which isn’t much better.
The hypocrisy of the US is breathtaking sometimes, and the current administration has the gall to criticise europe.
Right now the punishment is confinement. When you add effectively unpaid labour in prison as part of acceptable punishment, you're also paving the way for a future where unpaid labor as a standalone punishment is also acceptable. That's just slavery by law.
"The stated goal of the Swedish prison system is to create a safer society by reducing recidivism and rehabilitating offenders rather than focusing solely on punishment. This is achieved through humane treatment, education, and reintegration programs designed to prepare prisoners for life after release."
The discussion around billionaires needs to move away from taxing their income and beyond taxing their wealth. We need to start talking about how much of their wealth we should be taking away. Light it on fire or delete it. The whole world will be better off.
If only the big scams are being caught (and we don't know what % are being caught), there's likely a lot more going undetected.
1. Arrest and convict scammer
2. Scammer pays bribe from ill gotten gains
3. POTUS profits and scammer let out of jail
Here's what to watch: how long it takes for a donation to show up to the Trump library and how soon after that the sentence is commutted. This has erased roughly $1 billion in penalties so far since January 20. Hell, it might only take $1 million.
[1]: https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2003/June/03_civ_386....
It’s something at least.
From there, of course, it's a short hop to "he has more than enough money left over to purchase himself a pardon."
Despite the great post-sentencing opportunities for monetary re-justicing, insurance still works better when paid for up front.
where was the FBI for the last 40 years? or did he really just go postal post-covid?
They'll get doctors as well? Hopefully they are part of the co-conspirators group they mentioned they convicted at the start. Criminals are going to be criminal, but it's especially disheartening when doctors engage in this. All those years going to school should be canceled and thrown into the trash immediately if they get convicted of these kinds of crimes. The path of ever being a doctor should be closed for them.
This is just a step adjacent to the online pill mills for ED medication, GLP-1s, and ketamine, only the advertising and service delivery has been adapted to the elderly that don't use the Internet.
Instead of ads online it's ads on daytime television bragging for free orthopedic supports and braces at no charge to you if you "call today" while they link you up to someone that signs a prefilled script for fifty bucks a pop to bill out to Medicare.
