I read an article about a country in Africa, Eriterea, just North of Ethiopia I believe. Anyway, a reporter went there to check out the conditions following their civil war. What he found was amazing, from a Westerner point of view. He sat at a street cafe table and took out most of his money and cards, then descretely put the wallet a couple of tables over and behind him. He returned to his seat and waited for it to be stolen. Six hours had passed and no one would sit at that table, no one would touch the wallet. Many people came and went.
Finally, after all this time he saw from the corner of his eye a small homeless boy approach the wallet. He picked it up and brought it directly to the reporter. The boy had been sitting down the street and had been watching the wallet.
For all of those 6 hours the boy was worried that someone might take the reporters wallet, so he sat and watched. The reporter was absolutely amazed. So he went to the local police station and no one was in front. So he called out. Two policemen quickly ran in with obvious concern on their faces. The reporter quickly calmed them and said nothing was wrong, but why did the police seem so concerned. The reporter was the only visitor in several months.
How can this be? The police then told of how serious any crime is.
Whenever there is a crime, EVERYONE in the vacinity is arrested immediately. Then they slowly interview each person until they find out everyone involved. Meanwhile, the police do not feed you or provide anything for your comfort. Your family and friends must provide for you while in jail. A famous case there, now probably 10 years ago, involved embezzlement at a moderate sized company. It took over one year before the last innocent person was released. I believe four people were actually involved with the crime. So those people put a tremendous burden upon their coworkers and their families because of their greed. This is why there is so little crime. For the rest of a criminal's life they will be shunned by everyone, including their own family.
