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There are plenty of western “free countries” with little-to-no street crime. It’s not an either-or situation.

And non-Western - just look at Japan.

I have been thinking lately about the purpose of crime. Obviously people get robbed and bad things happen, but what would happen in a society without crime? is it possible that crime has a larger purpose?

stagnation. without risk there is no progress.

would you say that without crime humans would be complacent?

It's hard when there are so many laws on the books that it's almost impossible to not break one here and there.

"Crime" is a very loose term. Things like robbery and assault are obvious but there are a lot of laws out there that have no real "victim", or are enforced only when the powers that be have an inclination to.

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