At the moment, I am hesitate to say we are in the stage of "DEVELOPMENT" since development does not come along with crimes. If you scan through the morning paper or browse online, it is inevitable that there is no report about murder, rape, robbery or traffic accident. Every news report of crime ends up with sending the suspects to the court for legal procedure, leaving me wondering if those suspects are really in jail. There is no single followup of the story, finally. This practice might serve as a key motivator for criminals; the punishment is too light anyway.
Let's say a rape case to illustrate my point. Most compensation might be just paying certain amount of money which I consider LESS in term of exchanging with the victim's reputation and future. If punishment does exist, a few months of jail ends the case. (I rarely see it in news report). The next person would think it's still OK to rape a girl and serve some months in prison and commit again after being released.
Worth noticeably, the capital's security seems to be deteriorated as the recent crimes occurs around the urban area of Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, where it is supposed to be the most secured place for dwellers and visitors. Abundance of police can hardly settle down or at least keep crime to its minimum. Report of mugging, robbery and murder is always one of the main issues in local media.
If there is no way to control the mindset of people from committing crimes, the government should at least control the trafficking of illegal weapons at first place to prevent any misuse of weapons. I am still wondering if it is impossible to secured the heart of Cambodia, a place where all citizens can live without fear. While the nation enjoys the rapid development in all sector plus the petrol industry by the end of 2014, why not spares some percentages of budget to strengthen its security? I hope my question can be answered.