“Does crime pay?” Too simplistic a question.
Are you talking about individual crimes, or crime as a lifestyle?
For career criminals, or desperate, stupid losers (junkies, for instance) who just need money and will do anything to get it?
It makes a big difference, you know.
Now, the OP probably knows this already, but the glamorous, “cool,” professional criminals we see in movies bear very little resemblance to real criminals we’re actaully likely to encounter. There aren’t many Thomas Crowns stealing million dollar paintings from museums; there aren’t many Auric Goldfingers looking to knock over Fort Knox; and there aren’t many professional hit men who sip cocktails on the Riviera when they aren’t carrying out high-tech assassinations for $10 million a pop. In reality, most thieves and killers are morons, not master planners.
Now, even a moron carrying out penny-ante robberies or mugings is likely to escape capture for a while. A junkie who needs money and snatches purses to feed his drug habit is likely to get away with his crimes for a while. Weeks, months, maybe eve a few years. But he isn’t going to get rich (how much can he make? A few hundred dollars at a time, maybe? How long can that last?), and if he does it for very long, he will almost certainly get busted for it.
If he manages to steal enough to support his drug habit for a year, then gets arreested and serves 2 years in prison, did his crime “pay”? I guess, but not very well, and not for very long.
But what about the “professional” crooks?
Consider a guy who makes a career or armed robbery. Is he likely to get away with his first liquor store or convenience store holdup? Sure. Is he likely to get away with several such holdups? Sure. To that extent, crime probably WILL “pay.” But (and this is a major but!), he isn’t likely to get much money (contrary to what you see in movies, even major bank heists usually net the robbers only a few thousand bucks). Certainly not enough money to live in luxury. Heck, not even enough to live a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle for more than a few months.
So, a robber has to commit a LOT of crimes to make much money, and the more crimes he commits, the greater the certainty he’ll eventually get caught and do hard time.
In movies, you ALWAYS see career criminals who dream of pulling off “one, last BIG caper,” the one that will net him millions of bucks, and let him move to Tahiti and retire. In reality, that kind of thing never happens. No burglar or stickup man ever makes that kind of money and lives to enjoy it.
Crime pays well enough, often enough, that many people think it makes sense to make a career of it. But as a way to get rich, it’s not even as good as buying lottery tickets.