crime does not pay

Idioms  

1. Lawbreakers do not benefit from their actions. For example, Steve didn't think it mattered that he stole a candy bar, but he's learned the hard way that crime does not pay. This maxim, originating as a slogan of the F.B.I. and given wide currency by the cartoon character Dick Tracy, was first recorded in 1927. There have been numerous jocular plays on it, as in Woody Allen's screenplay for Take the Money and Run (1969): “I think crime pays. The hours are good, you travel a lot.”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crime does not pay

"Confiscation Orders are a powerful tool in ensuring that crime does not pay," he said.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

“The core objective is to ensure that crime does not pay by depriving criminals of their ill-gotten gains and limiting their capacity to commit further crimes,” the European Commission said.

From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2022

Our message to offenders is simple - crime does not pay.

From BBC ● May 12, 2011

While crime does not pay, it sure can be lucrative.

From New York Times ● May 6, 2011

With a few such exceptions, prisoners are unrepentant except for business reasons—that is, either because they recognize that crime does not pay, or in order to influence in their favor the pardoning power.

From The Subterranean Brotherhood by Julian Hawthorne