Are Punishments Really Idealistic?

[dsgrue3]

Jay520 said:

dsgrue3 said:
Prisons are a money pit. It costs upwards of $50,000 to house each criminal per year.

Solutions:
-Victimless crimes need to be abolished entirely.
-If a term exceeds 10 years, that person should receive the death penalty. No exceptions. That's $500,000 dollars spent just to house someone who made a conscious decision to willfully break the law.
-Accelerated sentences for those willing to participate in rehabilitation, education, and apprenticeship. Simply, the ones wanting to contribute to society in an admirable way but simply had no means to achieve.

That's not smart at all. If a person commits a crime that warrants over 10 years in pirson, which means they get the death penalty, nothing would discourage them from committing more violent crimes.

For example, imagine that rape warrants twelve years in prison. Nowe, imagine this scenario: Let's say a man just raped a lady in an alley. After raping the lady, the man has two choices: He can murder his victim, or he can just run away. In real life circumstances, murder gives a much harsher sentence than rape; so the man would have incentive to not murder the woman - he doesn't want to get the death penalty. However, under your circumstances, murder and rape each give equal punishment - both equal the death penalty if he's found. So, he's already raped her, which means death, so he would have nothing that discourages him from killing the woman; he would have nothing to lose. Needless to say, your system would increase the chances of the man killing her,

There needs to be a gradual continuam of punishment varying based on the severity of the crime. Or else, you would have a world where the instant a person commits a crime that warrants over 10 years in prison, they would have nothing to lose. You would have a world of desperate criminals who didn't care if they committing harsher crimes.

How would the criminal know the crime warrants a 12 year sentence or even that they would even be caught in the first place?

If a criminal is going to murder someone, the sentence does not matter to them.

You seem to think criminals are rational. They aren't, which is why they are criminals.