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

“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

When parent-teacher associations complained that their re-enactment of underworld derring-do was bad stuff for children, Gang Busters pointed out that the little ones couldn't learn too early that crime does not pay.

From Time Magazine Archive

When crime serials are broadcast it should be made obvious that crime does not pay.

From Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents by Mazengarb, O. C. (Oswald Chettle)