Hacker News Reader

Comment by ekianjo | Hacker News Reader

> "There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs," said Amnesty International's Chiara Sangiorgio in a statement.

Oh really? Then please explain why there are few death by drugs in such countries while there are hundreds of thousands of deaths due to overdose with opoids in the US as we speak where their use is completely decriminalized?

You don't get to say "X does not work to fix Y problem" without doing any kind of homework. Or then, make a statement that "death penalty is bad no matter what", but saying that it's not a deterrent is a very debatable question for drugs.

View on HN

Also the number of people who have been executed who are recidivists is zero. Compared to ~20% in Singapore. So it assuredly reduces some crime.

It just means that the professionals don't risk their lives and they're executing desperate people.

The death penalty specifically doesn't have a deterrent effect, but as part of a society so strict that wants to use it for almost everything (obviously an exaggeration, but still...) you have plenty of people living in fear and unlikely to try anything. At a great cost even if proponents won't admit it.

Correlation isn't causation or something like that?

>completely decriminalized?

Does decriminalized mean something I'm not aware of? Do you mean that prescriptions are not criminalized? Use? Possession?

Since when are opiods are decriminalized in the US?

In Minnesota I would say it’s de facto decriminalized. I bought a house from a guy who had more than 3 grams of fentanyl and half an ounce of meth when he got busted. His fourth strike with this level felony and overall at least his 10th time in jail. He got a sentence of 14 months in prison. Not exactly hard time for someone who is literally out there killing people. And yes I’m still looking for money buried in the yard

In what state other than possibly Oregon could you say opioids are "completely decriminalized"?! The Virginia general assembly[0] just classified illegally produced fentanyl as a weapon of terrorism, and the attorneys general of Florida and Connecticut are pressuring Biden to label it a weapon of mass destruction.

[0]: https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?231+ful+CHAP038...

They are effectively decriminalized up here in Seattle even if they aren’t officially. The police won’t arrest you unless you are a really big dealer, use in public is tolerated, and king county jails won’t accept arrests for anything less than murder.

In the Kensington area of Philly you can openly use and sell opioids on the street without consequence. Most cities have similar areas.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12131455/Inside-Phi...

Washington? California?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com