Crime pays in many ways.

Everybody is against crime, even criminals, simply because nobody likes it when other people’s misdemeanours affect them. The truth is, we have an inherent need for crime in our economic culture.

Now before you bite my head off, hear me out. We live in a society where people need jobs in order to survive, there simply aren’t enough to go around. The solution is to create more industries for people to engage themselves in. Crime creates a whole array of job opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist. When this article refers to criminals, it’s not in the traditional derogatory sense, but rather refers to people who partake in an essential part of our economy.Firstly there is the obvious industry: you can be a criminal, & benefit directly from robbing; mugging; drug dealing; murder or by various other means. The first few I mentioned don’t need much extrapolation, but murder perhaps does. People will kill for money, they, after all, need it to survive. People can be hit men; get involved in fratricide or patricide for inheritance; become soldiers, or simply just stab or shoot people in order to take their wallets. People see this as immoral, but the law & most people I know, state that killing in self defence isn’t murder. One cannot survive without an income so they make killing their income, isn’t that self defence?

Another form of crime which perhaps needs greater discussion, before we move onto the peripheral industries, is prostitution. Prostitution is the oldest known occupation having been around as long we have record of human history. It not only provides income for the prostitutes themselves, but also for their handlers (commonly called pimps.) In fact, even in countries where prostitution is illegal, there are legal forms, the porn industry is a good example, but it’s even more widespread than that. Woman commonly go out to bars, accept drinks, which are paid for with money, or have dinner with men at the guys expense, & in many cases end up in bed with many of those men. The real difference here is that the honest prostitute will sleep with someone for payment, the girl getting a free meal or drinks may not give up the product being paid for. In a steady relationship, where either a man or woman pays for everything, the other party is, in fact, a semi employed prostitute. Of course in a marriage where only one party works, & is the sole means of income, the other is a full time prostitute. So the question is, why should any form of prostitution be a illegal at all?

The reason, of course, for making the aforementioned criminal activities, well, criminal, is the peripheral industries created. The police force wouldn’t exist without crime, obviously. Of course you get honest cops, who simply draw a basic salary. You also get corrupt cops, who can be likened to sales people in that they draw a basic yet have the ability to increase that by expanding the industry through taking bribes, which is precisely what they do. We then need police to police the police, like what americans call the Internal Affairs department, or something like that. This creates a vast number of jobs straight away.

The lack of confidence in corrupt police forces, or simply the ubiquitous nature of the criminal industry, leads to the formation of private security companies, which allow people to hire their own police officers. This industry also provides a product line consisting of masses of different products. These products need to be invented; developed & manufactured, providing multitudes of skilled & unskilled workers with jobs. Sales people market these private security companies and their products, & then the products need installation. This industry, & all the jobs it creates wouldn’t exist without crime.

Obviously the medical industry benefits from crimes a well, & not only violent ones. Drunk & speeding drivers break the law, & by definition are criminals, the damage they often cause, causes hospitalisation, & even kills victims. Some victims of drunk drivers & violent criminals need operations & rehabilitative therapy, & of course medicine. Fortunately, there are plenty of diseases around, & people are quite capable of injuring themselves, so a lack of crime wouldn’t completely cripple this industry, but it would reduce the amount of economic activity this industry generates.

Victims of crime, particularly violent crimes, such as the victims of various forms of physical & sexual abuse; murder victims’ families; victims mugging & the like, often need therapy. This opens up an industry in itself. Educated professionals, who paid a fortune for their degrees, make a living out of listening to these victims talking about how they feel. This industry benefits from crimes that aren’t even reported. This industry doesn’t rely entirely on crime, but should crime be eradicated, it would be to the financial detriment of many of these professionals.

Insurance companies, not only prey of natural disasters, but also benefit from the mere possibility of crime. If there were no crime, this industry would loose an enormous percentage of its cash flow. Like the medical industry it would survive, but it would take far too much damage.

The media is hugely reliant on crime, & in particular violent crime, we’re all familiar with the saying, “no news is good news,” but in the media world, “good news is no news.” This industry provides jobs to reporters; news anchors; technicians; cameramen, & numerous other people. The technology that goes into keeping both print & electronic media alive is similar to what is required in the private security industry. They also provide an essential part of the entertainment industry, people love the violence that news sources report on, if they didn’t, then Hollywood wouldn’t make violent movies, but that isn’t good enough, people want to know about the real thing.

The department of corrections is the pinnacle of our society’s achievements. People aren’t permitted to starve to death in prison, as they are in open society. Of course, it is the possibility of starving which begins the cycle of crime in many peoples lives in the first place, which is why it is such an essential part of the development of modern economies. Criminals get to mix with other criminals in prison. Often violent criminals are imprisoned alongside petty offenders. Rape is rife, making the less aggressive victims of violence, & thus often more likely to commit violence against others once they are released. Of course the more violent the crimes, the more they benefit the economy. What you essentially have is a retreat for criminals, where they can compare notes; make contacts, & improve their ability to greater benefit the economy after release. As a bonus, the department of corrections employs a huge number of people from professionals, such as doctors & psychiatrists, to semi skilled prison guards. Since the cycle will always perpetuate & expand the industry, the need for new prisons will allow for the employment of skilled; semi skilled & unskilled staff on construction operations.

This isn’t a comprehensive look at all the benefits the economy reaps from having crime, but it shows how important it is. Our benevolent leaders can not & will not allow this industry to collapse, not only because it would be immoral to destroy so many jobs, but also because people need an enemy to focus on. Politicians need us to focus on criminals as that enemy, because if we focused on the politicians instead, we’d eventually start accusing them of ridiculous things like corruption, which would inevitably lead to a chaotic society where people would hold revolutions to try to overthrow governments, & who wants that?

I sincerely hope that people can understand why keeping crime on the rise is vital to economic growth. This is a very important message which the world needs to hear, otherwise, the pressure will increase on governments to reduce crime, which would be economic suicide in an already struggling global economy.