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Comment by cedws | Hacker News Reader

I came to this realisation not too long ago as well. It's saddening to imagine how much better the world in general would be if it weren't for criminals.

Generations before mine talk about their childhood as a wonderful time. Not having to lock their bikes up when going into a shop. Not having security cameras watching their every move. Not having barriers everywhere to prevent theft. My local supermarket introduced receipt scanners a few months ago that block you from exiting. They treat you as a thief by default.

I wish I could live in a high trust society. It sounds like in some parts of world (Japan for example) there are still elements of that.

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Its not really so easy to peg the blame solely on the existence criminals. For one thing what makes a person a criminal changes over time as we redefine what is illegal and what technically illegal acts are given priority enough to enforce.

More importantly though, generations past also often lived in smaller communities then we have today. When your world is smaller and you are only a degree or two of separation away from everyone, people often feel more bound to a certain standard of behavior. Stealing a bike in NYC today is one thing, stealing a bike in a town where you probably know whose bike it is and someone will recognize it if you ever actually ride it is very different.

The larger we grow societal centers and the more we expand the boundaries of our own world, the more we break societal bonds and need laws to enforce rules that are more easily broken when your victim is just another random person living there.

Bear in mind that the security/surveillance sector of the economy (including police) are heavily incentivized to exaggerate the risks of crime, as are politicians who want to appeal to a certain sort of voter. There's a lot of money to be made out of running a police state.

I agree! And I think we could if we had very harsh punishments. We are way too lenient on crime.

Steal? Life in jail.

Litter? Year long sentence.

Assault? Life in jail.

Criminals are going to commit crime and there is absolutely no evidence that rehabilitation works for those kinds of crime. We need to keep them away from society and change our culture to be entirely intolerant of crime.

I really hope this is facetious.

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