Editorial: The threat of harsh punishment for a transgression usually decreases one' s tendency to feel guilt or shame for committing that transgression, and the tendency to feel guilt or shame for committing a transgression reduces a person' s tendency to commit transgressions. Thus, increasing the severity of the legal penalties for transgressions may amplify people' s tendency to ignore the welfare of others.
The threat of harsh punishment deters people from committing transgressions only if this threat is at least sometimes carried out is an assumption required by the editorial's argument.