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This has been an ugly and shameful aspect of the "War on Drugs" since day one. I like that people are surprised that if you create an incentive structure, it en
by jfb 13y ago
This has been an ugly and shameful aspect of the "War on Drugs" since day one. I like that people are surprised that if you create an incentive structure, it encourages a specific behavior. Well, no kidding -- if law enforcement funding is dependent on civil forfeiture, civil forfeiture goes up.
You can get the good of the forfeiture (expeditious seizure) without the perverse actions by decoupling the proceeds. More training isn't going to work on its own.
- hackinthebochs 13y agoExactly. Wherever perverse incentives exist, exploitation will inevitably follow. Just imagine how much better this country could be on all levels if we eagerly stamped out these types of perverse incentives. It wouldn't even take a huge overhaul of the government: simply don't allow people to benefit from their own position of power. Such a simple concept, yet we keep moving in the exact opposite direction. Casually, it seems like this trend can be traced to our need for "efficiency", and the proliferation of business concepts into government and public institutions. Incentivize behavior that you want and you'll get more of it, etc. Makes sense in business contexts, but in public services it is detrimental.