From La Paz, Bolivia: Purse-Snatching Insurance.
I'm not sure what I think about this. I mean, it's a novel response to what appears to be a real problem, but it doesn't do anything to strike at the root of the thing, which is that the certain element who considers purse-snatching to have an acceptable risk/reward ratio is apparently not being deterred by either the law or the possibility of resistance from the victim.
Somewhat tangentially, I wonder which would be the stronger deterrent to crime: A 1-in-4 chance of getting caught and having to face the justice system, or a 1-in-10 chance of attaining room temperature at the scene of the intended crime?
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9 comments:
Ohhh, me, me, I know this one.
I thought Purse-Snatching Insurance was a cocked and locked 1911 loaded with Speer Gold Dots, in the hands of the victim?
-Rob
Isn't that a variation on the old standby, "Can you outrun 230 grains of lead at 850 feet per second?"
I always thought that was a great saying for a business card.
Regards.
My insurance is on my hip.
Hmmm. Grenade in purse, pin attached to a ripcord latched to the belt. Pop goes the weasel?
It's not a novel solution at all IMO.
Life has risks. Insurance companies underwrite risks. We have fire insurance, medical insurance, and life insurance.
If a company can profit doing something that does not involve infringing the liberty of another person, then more power to 'em.
Oh, I have no problems with someone doing it, I just wonder how I feel about someone finding it an economically profitable niche to fill...
The criminal element is supposedly a small number out of the population; each criminal performs many, many crimes before arrest, and often many more before incarceration, and often many more again before re-incarceration.
Incarceration works. Criminals off the street don't do street crimes.
I don't know the gun/knife laws of Bolivia, but carrying a machete can't be illegal everywhere, and might have a pre-crime deterrent effect as effective (for the one carrying) as shooting after the fact.
tw: pugnesse, which is what the Bolivian women need to protect their purses.
Mikee,
"Incarceration works. Criminals off the street don't do street crimes."
That's why I specified a "1-in-4 chance of getting caught and having to face the justice system" and not a "1-in-4 chance of getting caught and incarcerated." ;)
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