At extremes "tough on crime" obviously works; if every person who ever did a crime was summarily executed by the state, very quickly you'd run out of crime-doers.
Obviously, even the worst societies have considered "death for every offense" a bit too tough.
The problem is complex and involves multiple things - any "simple" solution likely has glaring issues.
And a glib answer to some of these could be "NYC cracked down on crime so criminals moved elsewhere, perhaps to San Francisco".
I don't know what you mean. Perhaps you're referring to the popular myth that Giuliani cleaned up New York?
What actually happened is that crime declined everywhere starting around 1994. Same reasons Dolores Park is now routinely filled with yuppies instead of gang violence.
Obviously, even the worst societies have considered "death for every offense" a bit too tough.
The problem is complex and involves multiple things - any "simple" solution likely has glaring issues.
And a glib answer to some of these could be "NYC cracked down on crime so criminals moved elsewhere, perhaps to San Francisco".