As an American who hungers for punishment, it's in fact a hunger driven by not punishing people (see SF, Chicago), allowing crime to persist, slaps on the wrist.

I've had my vehicle stolen, come time with the PROSECUTOR called me they tried to convince me to let them off the hook - like, is this the prosecutor speaking or the defense? That was DC. Never heard anything from that case, no justice provided.

And so that generates a certain hunger.

As far as our punishments, we are very lax. Look at illegal immigration in Singapore. The punishment is a literal beating with a stick. Not a soft beating, a leaves-lifelong-scars beating. Then, deportation. Imagine if the US did that. Singapore also has beatings for many other crimes. They are a "scrappy" country that probably couldn't afford room & board for prisoners, so beat and release it is, more economical. Not to mention anything to do with drugs is a death sentence. If the US believed in punishment like that there'd be a lot less problems. And that punishment system is very humane compared to Sharia law i.e. if you steal, you get your hands cut off. So I personally would support some extreme punishments by way of our punishments being too weak presently.