> "Everyone steals" is not a good defense to stealing.
I'm not defending stealing, I'm saying for all crime in America, the deterrent of jail doesn't appear to be working. That button has already been pressed, hard.
Even if prison were completely ineffective as a deterrent, that wouldn't be a reason to not use it, because criminals can't rob any more stores while they're imprisoned.
And my argument is against turning the dial up on punishment as a result of people in prison not being able to steal. The logic you've put forward, at the very least, suggests that people who steal should therefore have life sentences, and that already sounds a little absurd. If we should imprison people more, to prevent crime, why not you and me? I assume we've both jaywalked.
You could add that the price for having a single person in jail is more than people steal. A prisoner costs, in California, $106000 per year.
It would literally be cheaper (and obviously far more efficient for the economy) to offer anyone who steals $50 000 per year as long as they don't steal again. I mean you'd be paying criminals more than police officers, so I get that there would be revolution, but perhaps there are a LOT of cheap possibilities. If you offer someone $10k and what you ask in return keeps them out of prison for 3 months, that's a LARGE profit for the economy ...
The "prevent economic loss, by preventing stealing" argument is pretty strongly against prisons, doubly so in California.
We would have to compare that with how much crime there would be if there was no jails.
We might also look at things like how you can come back from jail and get a normal life, and looking into how we house people who are not suitable to get out again.
The USA has the most people in the world in the jail and this article is about the rising shoplifting problem. You are correct, those people that are currently in jail are not stealing.
Can you explain how "it works" when jail inmates cost $106000 per year? You don't need jail to make someone steal less than $106k. You can just let them steal in supermarkets, they'll never get to that amount.
Because that's the whole point, isn't it? Prevent economic loss. So that means the solution needs to cost LESS then the problem. Jails cost more. This is exactly the opposite of working, even on purely economic terms.