Re:The real crime here (Score:5, Insightful)
by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 22, 2014 @12:41PM (#47730523)

Actually most crimes are not prevented or thwarted by jail or excess sentencing. The reason is that those committing crimes aren't considering the risk or consequence of their actions. The line of thinking that jailing, violence toward (physical abuse, caning, etc), etc will reduce crime is naive, but it is also the line of thinking most people have grown up with and been taught. Other solutions may not necessarily have a significantly better outcome, but without different approaches being attempted its we're probably not going to see a significant reduction in crime.

What we know has had major impacts in different parts of the world:

1. Advancements in medicine (drugs) have reduced crime (they have almost eliminated the need for insane asylums)
2. Banning certain chemicals from gas (has resulted in significant reductions in violent crime)
3. Reducing the wage disparity between classes (particularly reducing poverty, educational opportunity, and enabling advancement)
4. Focusing on rehabilitation facilities for drug offenders rather than jail
5. Legalization of at least low-impact recreational drugs