[TedDoesntTalk]

“We do not negotiate with terrorists.” - Richard Nixon

Does it work? Depends on who you ask. https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/01/we-do-not-negotiate-ter... says that individuals (in the case of corporate ransomware - corporate entities) end up paying and not reporting the kidnapping:

“Historical evidence from Colombia and Italy shows that outlawing ransom payment has various adverse consequences.

Where ransom payments are illegal, victims’ families have no state support, while reporting of the kidnapping goes down and understanding of its prevalence is diminished.”

[jstarfish]

It's a crime in Japan to pay protection money to Yakuza. It seems to be working. They are a shadow of their former selves.

You can mitigate adverse consequences. Punishments for child kidnapping used to be severe, but then abductors would just kill the hostage since they had little more to lose. Today's sentences are next to nothing to encourage surrender.