CRIME DOES NOT PAY Definition & Meaning

crime does not pay

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Idioms and Phrases

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

Examples have not been reviewed.

“Thou shall not steal, and crime does not pay.”

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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot learned the hard way crime does not pay after voters gave her the boot, sending a clear message they are sick and tired of elected leaders who fail to keep them safe or improve the standard of living in their neighborhoods.

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“We have to make sure that crime does not pay.”

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“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.

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“He just can’t seem to get the picture that crime does not pay,” the sheriff said.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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