The Robber Asks to Be Punished

Abstract

We have a strong intuition that increasing the punishment leads to less crime. Let's move our glance from the punishment of the crime itself to the punishment of the attempt to commit a crime. We will argue that the more severe the punishment of the attempt to rob, i.e. of the threat, "give me the money or else . . . ", the more robberies and the more attempts will take place. That is because the punishment of the attempt to commit a crime makes the withdrawal from it more expensive for the criminal, making the relative cost of committing the crime lower. Hence, the punishment of the attempt turns it into a commitment by the robber, and makes incredible threats credible. Therefore, the robber has a strong interest in increasing the punishment of the attempt.

Keywords: Criminal Law, Negotiation, Robbery, Commitment, Sunk Cost