Re:The world split into 7 equal areas of population
by Hasknewbie on Tuesday May 08, 2018 @04:20PM
(#17024603)
You are correct about HK (in fact I think the higher crime rate was much older that just the 80s and dated back to the 50s and mass emigration caused by the successive troubles in the mainland). I do think it's a great story, as it demonstrates an administration can completely turn around a police force from utter corrupt to highly professional in around a decade. In Western countries where the worldview is often 'static' it's also a good reminder that societies can change quickly.
And yes in Singapore the laws (and their enforcement) are much more strict.
Re:The world split into 7 equal areas of population
by fallingfrog on Wednesday May 09, 2018 @09:15PM
(#17035737)
Hong Kong started phasing out leaded gas around 1992; so you would expect a drop in crime rates about 2004 or so. And of course that's exactly what the statistics show.
They had an anti-crime and anti-corruption campaign, and of course there was the handover. So obviously crime dissipated as a result. But it was really bad in the old days.
I don't really know much about Singapore. I've never been there. That said, if crime is low, I'd imagine there were, at least for a time, exceedingly strict punishments for lawbreakers given the population density.