From a reader:

Hi Jonah,
I lived in Singapore and can say that I’m not so sure it is preferable. They instituted caning for too many traffic offenses (in Malaysia there was the case of a 13 year old getting caned for drowning puppies. Just I thought)! This is what I’ve been told about caning. First hit hurts like nothing else, second draws blood and on the third you are unconscious. Afterward you butt is swollen to the size of a basketball and you can’t sit for about a month. But, in the case of Singapore, caning isn’t the only deterrent. Changi prison holds its own special dread. It is the old British Colonial prison and since those days the only upgrades have been electricity and running water. And the guards are all Ghurkas, no soft Singaporeans to do the job. All in all it is a place that would make the ACLU howl. But all that said, it works. While I was there we once went through a 90 day stretch without a single felony being committed. Name me any other metropolitan area with a population over 2 million that can make such a claim.