Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparrow
Does the size of the fine matter?
Presumably the chances of anyone being able to pay it are so remote that the number of zeroes is pretty irrelevant - a bit like sentencing some to 340 years imprisonment.
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I'd guess their logic is that such a huge fine completely negates the possibility of "getting out from under it" somehow, whether through dedicated payments, loans and donations, insurance, or anything else. In other words, you'll know you're well and totally screwed for life if you get caught, so you won't do it.
On its face, it sounds logical, I suppose... but I think that when the numbers are that high, it sort of breaks the personal "reality" barrier, and people stop thinking logically about astronomical numbers. IOW, let's do the crime... after all, I'll be irrevocably damned anyway, it's not like I'll
really spend 500 years in jail...
But if the punishment meant you had a prayer of resuming a normal life after due "rehabilitation," that might be more of a real inducement to avoid the crime in the first place.