Read some Dickens or The Prince and the Pauper by Twain. At one point stealing wool from a weaver was the death penalty in really old England
Yes that was the problem with Hammurabi and Draco’s codes. Really stiff penaltys for just about everything.
I think Solon eased off on the Draconian laws.
Yes, — this is a point made in the article. The Middle Ages punished crime; the modern age fights total wars on the innocents.