bestsolution

It’s not really possible to measure this over the long run. Short and medium term studies show that mass incarceration dramatically reduced crime in the US, mostly by literally removing violent young men from society, but that’s not the main reason why I support strong punishment. The moral decay of a society can take a hundred years to set in, but once the consequences become apparent, it can be too late to do anything about it. There is a lot of wisdom encoded in the ways of the past. Retribution for crimes is a universal institution for a reason.

All you can ever do is the best that you can under the circumstances. Avoiding a wrongful execution is just one goal. Other goals include the ability of the innocent to enjoy life and the need for justice against wrongdoers.

It’s not the chase of a dopamine hit. It’s the goodness and strength of a society that recognizes the power of properly ordered human sentiments.

Human sentiments are the the primary driver of human behavior. You get better results out of harnessing those sentiments than by trying to treat people as purely rational machines.