[daxfohl]

Louis C. K. once had a bit something like "The main thing keeping people from murdering each other, is that it really really sucks when you get caught."

He goes on to hypothesize that without a law against murder, or if it was just a misdemeanor, like you get a letter in the mail, "damn, there was a camera there", there would be a whole lot more murder. Like we all imagine ourselves to be good, but, when you're seated next to a crying baby on an airplane? Or in our case, when someone refuses to accept your PR?

Who knows if there's any validity to that or not, but perhaps we're about to find out.

[rexpop]

Peer-reviewed research contradicts the hypothesis that fear of punishment is the main deterrent to murder. Studies show that factors like social norms, moral inhibitions, and certainty of informal sanctions play larger roles, while formal punishments like prison or execution have weak or null effects.

Prison sentences neither reduce recidivism (specific deterrence) nor broadly discourage crime. A survey of leading criminologists revealed overwhelming agreement (over 80%) that empirical evidence does not support the death penalty—or harsh punishment generally—as a superior deterrent to murder.

Broader factors like community ties, empathy, and internalized taboos explain low murder rates even without perfect enforcement.

Louis C. K. is just a loudmouth nitwit.

[danaris]

This kind of statement feels very akin to the variety of Twitter post that's along the lines of "but who among us would be safe from prosecution if our DMs/private phonecalls/conversations with our secretaries were sent to the police, amirite guys?"

Anyone who believes that the only thing keeping themselves from murdering people indiscriminately is the law is a dangerous person. Anyone who believes that the only thing keeping everyone else from murdering people indiscriminately—but they themselves are, of course, the exception—is dangerous in a very different way.

The vast majority of people only ever feel like they want to seriously harm someone when they themselves have been seriously harmed, particularly when the system then protects the people who harmed them. We have developed a sense of morality that is often similar to, but distinct from, the law, that tells us that such things are wrong. And the vast majority of people want to both be, and be seen as, good people.