If we are to assume that a goal of the law is to lower the overall harm to society and if deterrence is used as justification for punishment, how is mariginal utility of deterrence dealt with? For example, we don’t want people to illegally park on Main Street so we strictly enforce the No Parking rule. We have 24 hour patrols and give tickets to any illegally parked car. The enforcement is very good at deterring people from parking illegally on the street so we feel justified in giving the tickets. However, if we let any particular car park illegally once for a short time there will not be an real effect on the level of deterrence. So are we still justified by giving this ticket even though the harm (fine) of the ticket may be greater than the value of the deterence effect? Haven’t we just created more harm than we just deterred?
If lowering the overall harm to society is not the main goal of the law, there’s no paradox.
I’m not sure that I follow your logic. Deterrence (sp?) is directly related to the likelihood of being caught by a law enforcer.
Take a no parking zone. Law enforcement has a lengthy time to catch the crime. The car is sitting there for hours, committing a crime (supposing a car can commit a crime, anyway). The longer the car sits, the greater the chance of being caught. Therefore, the deterrence for parking illigally for a lengthy time is great. However, parking for just an instant is not deterred. You still may be caught, but the odds are heavily in your favor. You can even improve your chances of escaping by observing the location of the parking cops. If there is no one nearby, you may get away with it.
Take speeding. Driving too fast is a major problem in many areas. While you may commit the crime for a lengthy time, from the perspective of a police officer, it’s only for an instant. The officer has a very breif time to observe the crime being committed and give chase. The odds of a speeder being caught are relatively low compared to illegal parking. Therefore, the deterrence against speeding is not very effective at all, relative to illegal parking.
Take homicide. There are, of course, many social and moral deterrents to murder, but consider only the legal. While the crime itself may take only an instant, the evidence of the crime linger for a long time. Therefore, law enforcement has a long time to consider the crime and apprehend the criminal. The deterrent effect is high.
I think a more interesting discussion is does lengthy prison time or capital punishment have any deterrent effect?