I don’t think increased sentences is necessarily where the shoe is pressing, but rather enforcement in general. Right now the risk of getting caught stealing a bike is next to zero, and it’s basically an industry. It’s not primarily poor people who need to steal to afford food, it’s organized groups travelling around stuffing bikes into vans.
There’s yet to be any proof that increased sentences reduces crime. It’s a social problem, people do what they need to do to live.
I don’t think increased sentences is necessarily where the shoe is pressing, but rather enforcement in general. Right now the risk of getting caught stealing a bike is next to zero, and it’s basically an industry. It’s not primarily poor people who need to steal to afford food, it’s organized groups travelling around stuffing bikes into vans.