Over the past quarter century or so, I think violent crime rates are actually down significantly. There are some similar global trends. What’s up significantly is news coverage of violent crime. If it bleeds, it leads. This has fueled a perception that crime is increasing.
It’s not clear to me the extent to which retribution serves as a deterrence. That said, it’s a very human inclination. I think we have to be careful about our assumptions of what the best deterrence is an our approaches should be evidence based. Unless, of course, we are simply after retribution.