describes a study which asked whether people punish others in order to deter crime, and concluded, No
The study concluded that people favor punishment that isn’t optimal for deterring crime, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their punishments aren’t aimed at deterring crime; it could mean these people are aiming to deter crime, but they’re just going about it the wrong way.
Or that the study authors are wrong about what punishments are optimal for deterrence. The social sciences are a long, long way from being able to make definitively accurate statments about that kind of thing.
The study concluded that people favor punishment that isn’t optimal for deterring crime, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their punishments aren’t aimed at deterring crime; it could mean these people are aiming to deter crime, but they’re just going about it the wrong way.
Or that the study authors are wrong about what punishments are optimal for deterrence. The social sciences are a long, long way from being able to make definitively accurate statments about that kind of thing.