If it’s true that no good deed goes unpunished, does bad deed always get punished? What if you knew they wouldn’t be?
The Purge, a popular 2013 film starring Ethan Hawke, explores this very question. It envisions the United States of the future, where all crimes—even major crimes—become legal for a day every year.
Allowing people to temporarily release their pent-up natural impulses, the film says, keeps crime rates at an all-time low the other 364 days of the year.
Would you commit a crime if it went unpunished? If yes why?
But what if this scenario became a reality? How would people behave? If no good deed goes unpunished, would bad deeds spiral out of control?
A new study published in Crime magazine
Even worse, less than half of serious crimes are even reported to the police.
But as the author of this review, Shima Baughman, points out, there are other ways to solve crimes. Examples include mediating neighborhood disputes locally and making greater use of social services and community programs.
“But as long as the police measure success in terms of arrests,” writes Baughman, “this will not be more prevalent.”
Study: “Who would ‘clean’? Low Self-control, Psychopathy, and Offending in the Absence of Legal Controls”Authors: Ryan C. Meldrum, Peter S. Lehmann, and Jamie L. FlexonPublished in: Crime
