It won't eliminate it, but I seriously believe (especially in today's morally bankrupt society) that the onus of criminality does deter at least some of those undesired activities.
Just imagine if there were no laws against stealing or murder. How many more thefts, how many more murders would occur? The only disincentive would be fear of God or reprisal, and far too many don't know Him.
@Smokin Joe I don't know,but I can tell you that I have no desire to steal anything or murder anyone,so I honesty think most people share the same beliefs. Yes,it IS true that some people will do this,but the law NEVER prevents them from doing it because not a single one of them ever thinks THEY will be caught and punished. The laws against murder and theft,for example,must be kept in place to punish the people who do those things,but it is ridiculous to think they,or any other laws,keep people from doing what they want.
The problem is teaching morality to small children so they know right from wrong and don't grow up to become dangerous felons USED to be imprinted on those young minds by their mothers who remained at home to raise them,and mostly enforced by their fathers,who worked every day to support his family.
This no longer applies in the modern world because the gooberment has now taken over dominion over YOUR children,and WILL punish you severely if you even restrict them to the house for a week or so for violations,never mind put your ass in JAIL for spanking one of your princes or princesses.
Unfortunately for society,which really means all of us in this case,the government refuses to punish our children for disobedience to our wishes/laws,and in FACT encourages it "so the child can grow creatively",or some such shit. They even take it one step further by punishing YOU via fines,jail time,or both,for any crime the child then violates!
It is truly a "Catch-22" world we all live in today, it's getting worse every year,and it is going to CONTINUE to get worse every year as long as loons continue to get on their high horse and insist on "Perfection or NOTHING!" Know anybody like that?