crime, and how to live without it

The main headline on the BBC today is Iraq again. So much could be said about that, but for the sake of variety let us turn to CNN.com: "Aruba judge freed in missing teen case." In this case, a judge's son is a suspect in a criminal investigation, but the case has been difficult to prove. Either an innocent family has been put through mental torture, or a guilty man will go free. This case illustrates problems that are widespread and serious.

1. A (hopefully small) percentage of all convicted "criminals" will be innocent.
2. A (usually large) percentage of guilty men are never caught.
3. When crimes are identified, it is seldom clear exactly what happened, so we can have little confidence that the correct sentence is passed.
4. It all takes a very long time.
5. And costs a huge amount of money.

So the whole system is wrong.

But there is an alternative. If we accept that people own all the wealth they create, this leads to a system of land rent, and this leads to freedom to individually choose your own form of government (as long as you pay the market price). If we choose our own form of government, we get exactly the laws and the leaders that we want (at an individual level), and so we have much greater trust, and closer communities where everyone watches out for everyone else. There is greater surveillance, just as there is greater surveillance within families and businesses. And we don't mind this, it makes us feel safe, because we trust the people in charge - they are our people. Result: practically no crime.

Next time you hear about crime, remember that we do have a choice.