>I disagree. South-east asia is the world source for heroin. They deal on an international scale, despite harsh penalties. Illicit drugs are as easy or easier to get in the middle east and asia as they are in North America.

It depends what country we refer to: Singapore or Vietnam are, of course, much different than Thailand, for example. And then there is high-level government corruption in league with syndicates that escape penalties altogether. My understanding is that the bulk of the world's heroin and cocaine now originates from Latin America, not Asia, also...

But we're diverging from my point about whether there is a correlation between capital punishment and deterrence, given a theoretical "clean" model of fair, swift, and certain punishment. I still believe the answer to be yes, for certain types of premeditated crimes, whether they be a kidnap/murder in the US or a drug sale in Singapore.

Not that I'm in favor of CP as a long-term societal method of criminal reduction, either, I'm just debating a point about whether deterrence is a valid argument.