We Are All Spaniards

In article vl15c.12593$_w.289553@attbi_s53,
Jay Honeck wrote:
We don't, actually. We fight criminals.

There's no expectation that crime will cease.

Really? I was under the impression that our criminal justice system was
meant to be a deterrent.

In other words, we expect crime to cease, given enough punishment.

Perhaps as an academic theory, but even then only on paper. The key
thing to remember is that criminals (most at least) break the law because
they do not think that they will be caught. They know that they could be
caught, but commit the actually crime assuming that they will not.
For example, most of us speed. But we do NOT do so when we see a cop
on the side of the road.
If you mean that punishment of criminals that have been caught and
convicted is meant to be a punishment against future crime the states
don't really show that either. And even if they did new criminals would
only appear.
Throughout the history of the human race murder has basically been
illegal (note murder is often defined differently in different culture).
Yet murders still happen. In the US will even excute people for murder,
some nations (esp in the past) really tried to prevent murders from
happening. But like war in 'part of the human condition.' That doesn't
mean that we do nothing, but what it does mean is that it's a battle we
can't win/defeat.