Killing drug dealers en mass like the Philippines is doing. Has this been done elsewhere?

[TriPolar]

@Wesley_Clark

However who is to say that other criminals won’t just fill the vacuum. Also what is to stop the cops from becoming corrupt and dishonest?

Brazilhas death squads made up of police officers and military who targeted serious criminals. But I have no idea if it actually had a positive impact on Brazilian society. Crime still seems rampant.

Sure. When the police are considered criminals crime will probably increase.

[Evan_Drake]

Well, they knew the worst too young.

[sitchensis]

@Wesley_Clark

I can see the point too. Assuming the police are targeting the worst of the worst, I could see how it could have appeal.

However who is to say that other criminals won’t just fill the vacuum. Also what is to stop the cops from becoming corrupt and dishonest?

Brazilhas death squads made up of police officers and military who targeted serious criminals. But I have no idea if it actually had a positive impact on Brazilian society. Crime still seems rampant.

I was thinking of it more of a thought experiment not an actual thing to do. If that nytimes article is accurate then it’s probably working about as well as I would have thought. It’s a big show of force, but in reality the cops really only have intel on the low level users. The Pablo Escobar of the Philippines isn’t getting killed.

[Machine_Elf]

@astro

the current policy in the Philippines re drug dealers just seems to be “kill them all” without even going to trial. Surprising in a nominally democratic country with rule of law.

Has this sort of targeted killing of drug criminals been done before in any country? How did it work out long term as a deterrent?

China did it in the mid-twentieth century, but it’s not clear how much due process might have been involved. Apparently it worked well for a while (not counting any human rights violations that may or may not have happened along the way):

@Quora

Opium eradication was one of the most positive legacies of Mao Zedong. By 1956, China was essentially drug free up and remained so until his death in 1976.