3 ms·

Its the balance of deterrence and incentives. In the case of drugs, no one really goes to jail fo doing drugs, only selling them. People therefore feel free to

Its the balance of deterrence and incentives. In the case of drugs, no one really goes to jail fo doing drugs, only selling them. People therefore feel free to do drugs, which drives demand for people to sell them. Thus an incentive arises, which, for some, is worth the risk. The same balance applies here. If we dont want something happening, it needs harsh punishments to outweigh the incentives.

refurb 3y ago
I mean people will smuggle drugs into Singapore under the penalty of death. And the flow of drugs continues. I’d imagine making tens of millions by selling poisonous food provides a similar incentive?
- BobbyJo 3y ago
  > I mean people will smuggle drugs into Singapore under the penalty of death Yeah, but how many? Singapore has a very small drug trade when you consider its wealth per-capita. Most counties with similar wealth have trades several times larger per-capita. You can't completely eliminate a crime no matter what punishments you hand out. Someone people are just blind to risk. However, that doesn't mean punishing people is futile. It has a demonstrable effect. Now, I do believe that checks and balances that prevent crime are generally more effective than punishments, but punishments are still necessary to add risk to gaps in prevention.
  - refurb 3y ago
    > Yeah, but how many? Lots of people. There are sizable drugs busts (kilograms of heroin) in Singapore every few weeks. It's a country of 5M, smaller than a larger US city.
    - BobbyJo 3y ago
      That doesn't mean anything out of context. Yes, there are drug busts, but the size and frequency are much less than would be expected in a US or EU city of the same size and wealth. Even less than the percapita average of Japan if I'm not mistaken, which itself has laws nearly as strict.
      - refurb 3y ago
        > but the size and frequency are much less than would be expected in a US or EU city of the same size and wealth. That's a claim that needs some data to back it up. Singapore has 3.5M people. Kilograms of heroin is a huge amount. It's in the dozens of kilograms per year, and that's not counting all the heroin that doesn't get seized.

refurb 3y ago

I mean people will smuggle drugs into Singapore under the penalty of death. And the flow of drugs continues. I’d imagine making tens of millions by selling poisonous food provides a similar incentive?

BobbyJo 3y ago
> I mean people will smuggle drugs into Singapore under the penalty of death Yeah, but how many? Singapore has a very small drug trade when you consider its wealth per-capita. Most counties with similar wealth have trades several times larger per-capita. You can't completely eliminate a crime no matter what punishments you hand out. Someone people are just blind to risk. However, that doesn't mean punishing people is futile. It has a demonstrable effect. Now, I do believe that checks and balances that prevent crime are generally more effective than punishments, but punishments are still necessary to add risk to gaps in prevention.
- refurb 3y ago
  > Yeah, but how many? Lots of people. There are sizable drugs busts (kilograms of heroin) in Singapore every few weeks. It's a country of 5M, smaller than a larger US city.
  - BobbyJo 3y ago
    That doesn't mean anything out of context. Yes, there are drug busts, but the size and frequency are much less than would be expected in a US or EU city of the same size and wealth. Even less than the percapita average of Japan if I'm not mistaken, which itself has laws nearly as strict.
    - refurb 3y ago
      > but the size and frequency are much less than would be expected in a US or EU city of the same size and wealth. That's a claim that needs some data to back it up. Singapore has 3.5M people. Kilograms of heroin is a huge amount. It's in the dozens of kilograms per year, and that's not counting all the heroin that doesn't get seized.