[HN Gopher] A Tiny Number of Shoplifters Commit Thousands of New...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       A Tiny Number of Shoplifters Commit Thousands of New York City
       Thefts
        
       Author : asnyder
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2023-04-15 20:36 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
        
       | anon291 wrote:
       | Hmmm... It sounds like with 300 jail cells to protect the public,
       | this is an easy problem to fix.
        
       | pontifier wrote:
       | We need a better way to help these people live life without
       | committing crimes.
       | 
       | My suggestion is a type of UBI that is immediate, fair, and would
       | immediately be effective at easing some of the desperation these
       | people must feel.
       | 
       | I propose a tower that drops money. $1 every minute. The price of
       | such a tower in dollars would be just over a half a million
       | dollars per year. It would serve as a tourist attraction, and a
       | way for someone needing a few dollars to get them without
       | begging, without stealing, without stigma. It would put dollars
       | in people's pockets that would be spent at nearby businesses. I
       | don't see a downside.
       | 
       | The town I live in, Pine Bluff Arkansas, has an organization
       | called Go Forward Pine Bluff. They waste so much tax money it's
       | unbelievable, and the things they do don't benefit the people.
       | 
       | I'm fighting them as hard as I can, and I hope to someday build a
       | tower like that in this town.
        
         | pclmulqdq wrote:
         | To some degree, crime is just basic supply and demand. There's
         | a certain amount of demand for crime, driven by loose security,
         | lax enforcement, and easy outlets for stolen goods (who do you
         | think is stocking the cheap deodorant on Amazon?). You aren't
         | going to be able to fight those economic incentives with
         | something like UBI.
        
       | dghlsakjg wrote:
       | Long tail distribution is true with A LOT of different crime
       | categories, no?
       | 
       | "A tiny number of drug-dealers commit thousands of NYC drug
       | deals"
       | 
       | "A tiny number of vandals commit thousands of acts of NYC
       | graffiti"
       | 
       | What is this article supposed to be telling us?
        
         | rufus_foreman wrote:
         | >> What is this article supposed to be telling us?
         | 
         | Put a few people in jail and you can have nice things again?
        
           | pclmulqdq wrote:
           | Other people will step up to fill the void. As long as the
           | costs of crime are low and the rewards are high, people will
           | do it.
           | 
           | Crack down on Amazon for distribution of stolen goods and a
           | lot of these convenience store thefts will stop.
        
         | local_crmdgeon wrote:
         | That if you jailed these 327 people, crime would fall
         | dramatically, and particularly in the neighborhoods
         | progressives claim to care about.
         | 
         | That shopkeeper in the Bronx is not exactly Jamie Dimon.
         | Society should try to protect him, and we _choose not to_.
        
       | mrtweetyhack wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | vt85 wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-04-15 23:01 UTC)