Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

Death Penalty Update: Even Hanging Thieves in Public Doesn’t Deter Crime


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Such is the latest lesson to be learned from that laboratory of contemporary criminology, the Islamic Republic of Iran. In an effort to beat back a recent wave of street crime apparently spurred by the sanctions-battered economy, the mullahs of Teheran have taken to hanging thugs from construction cranes in public squares. How’s that working out? Well, at the recent execution of a couple of guys convicted of a violent robbery in Teheran, “a Los Angeles Times correspondent covering the event had his iPad … stolen from his shoulder bag while speaking with distraught relatives of the condemned.”

(Thanks to LA Observed for pointing out this tragi-comic story.)

About Vince Beiser

Vince Beiser is a Pacific Standard senior editor. Follow him on Twitter at @vincelb.