<story><title>Ecuador legalized gangs and murder rates plummeted</title><url>https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/3/26/18281325/ecuador-legalize-gangs</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>moh_maya</author><text>From Terry Pratchett&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;Guards, Guards&amp;quot; [1]&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;One of the Patrician’s greatest contributions to the reliable operation of Ankh-Morpork had been, very early in his administration, the legalising of the ancient Guild of Thieves. Crime was always with us, he reasoned, and therefore, if you were going to have crime, it at least should be organised crime.&lt;p&gt;And so the Guild had been encouraged to come out of the shadows and build a big Guildhouse, take their place at civic banquets, and set up their training college with day-release courses and City and Guilds certificates and everything. In exchange for the winding down of the Watch, they agreed, while trying to keep their faces straight, to keep crime levels to a level to be determined annually. That way, everyone could plan ahead, said Lord Vetinari, and part of the uncertainty had been removed from the chaos that is life.&lt;p&gt;And then, a little while later, the Patrician summoned the leading thieves again and said, oh, by the way, there was something else. What was it, now? Oh, yes…&lt;p&gt;I know who you are, he said. I know where you live. I know what kind of horse you ride. I know where your wife has her hair done. I know where your lovely children, how old are they now, my, doesn’t time fly, I know where they play. So you won’t forget about what we agreed, will you? And he smiled.&lt;p&gt;So did they, after a fashion.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;discworldquotes.tumblr.com&amp;#x2F;post&amp;#x2F;150983136815&amp;#x2F;one-of-the-patricians-greatest-contributions-to&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;discworldquotes.tumblr.com&amp;#x2F;post&amp;#x2F;150983136815&amp;#x2F;one-of-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Ecuador legalized gangs and murder rates plummeted</title><url>https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/3/26/18281325/ecuador-legalize-gangs</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>peter_d_sherman</author><text>Excerpt: &amp;quot;And when you hang out for a while, you see how differently they respond to conflicts now. For example, they [the Latin Kings] put on one of the biggest hip hop concerts ever, and they worked with other previously antagonistic gangs on the project.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;If this is true, then I nominate David Brotherton for a Nobel Prize...&lt;p&gt;Also, I found this quote interesting: &amp;quot;...basically, when you want to stop a behavior, the worst thing you can do is prohibit it. Social inclusion is the most productive means of social control.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Interesting...</text></comment>