A few problems still exist in a stateless society which cannot be dismissed. For one, a person can choose to live “off the grid,” or without any DRO representation, and theoretically get away with a lot. However, that is true of the statist system as well. If a man decides to become homeless, he can commit many crimes at will – but he abandons all the benefits of participating in society. Thus DROs may not be able to solve all problems of utter lawlessness, but neither can the state, so all is equal.
INTERPERSONAL CRIMES
Crimes against persons, such as murder and rape, are generally considered distinct from crimes against property. This is a very modern distinction. In European Common Law, crimes against persons were often punished through the confiscation of property. A rape costs the person one amount, a murder another amount paid to next of kin, etc. This sort of system tends to be preferred by victims, who not only suffer the physical damage of their assaulter, but must also pay taxes to incarcerate them. A woman who was raped would usually prefer receiving $250,000 from her rapist than paying thousands to keep him behind bars. Thus, crimes against persons and crimes against property need not be as distinct as they seem, as property remains the best conceivable method of restitution. In our DRO system, a man who rapes a woman would incur a debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the woman he raped, and must pay it, or be ejected from society.
Another advantage to be discussed can be coined the “Scrabble board challenge” benefit. In Scrabble, you can challenge the existence of someone’s word. If it is a word, then the accuser loses a turn. If it is not a word, then the player who attempted to use the false word loses a turn. Given the expense of resolving disputes, DROs would make great effort to make certain those bringing false accusations are punished for their waste of time and resources. This would greatly reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits, to the benefit of all.
THE STATELESS SOCIETY AND VIOLENT CRIME
You may well be thinking, “How can a stateless society deal with violent crime?”
First, we must analyze how violent crime is dealt with today. Second, we must divide violent crimes into two categories: crimes of passion and crimes of motive. Third, we shall talk about how a stateless society deals with each.
How does our current society deal with violent crime? The only possible unbiased answer you can give is – it is encouraged.
A basic fact of life is that people respond to incentives. The better that crime pays, the more criminals you will have. Certain well-known habits – drugs, prostitution, and gambling in particular – are non-violent in nature, but highly desired by certain segments of the population. If these non-violent activities are criminalized, the profit gained from supplying them rises significantly. Criminalizing voluntary actions destroys all stabilizing social forces (contracts, knowledge-sharing, mediation, open activity). As a result, violence becomes the normal means of dispute resolution.
Furthermore, if the law creates an environment in which the criminals make more money than the police, the police will tend to be bribed into compliance. By increasing the profits of crime, the state guarantees the corruption of the police and judicial systems – thus making it safer and more profitable to operate outside the law. It can take dozens of arrests to face trial, and many trials to face conviction (see biography of Al Capone). Policemen today spend about a third of their time on paperwork and 90% of their time pursuing non-violent criminals. Entire sections of cities are run by violent gangs while millions of low-level peons overflow the prisons, creating work for the judicial system and raising enforcement costs. Peaceful citizens are legally disarmed by gun-control laws, thus preventing them from defending themselves against these criminals. In effect, the state literally creates, funds, protects, and profits from violent criminals.
Thus the standard to compare the stateless society’s means of dealing with violent criminals is not some ideal perfect society absent of any violence whatsoever, but rather the current one, in which violent crime is encouraged and protected.
Before we talk about violent crime in a stateless society, it is important to remind you that the stateless society eliminates the number-one largest dealer of violence against you – the state itself. The state threatens you with violence if you do not hand over your money in taxes, and threatens your life, should it declare war. Thus we cannot say our current system reduces violence in any way whatsoever. On the contrary, in our system, violence is the best means to many ends, and thrives like a beast.
CRIMES OF MOTIVE
Crimes of motive are by definition associated with incentives, thus by changing incentives, many crimes of motive can be prevented. Any system which reduces the profit associated with crime will reduce crime.
Crime requires effort like anything else. If people can make more money working honestly for a living than through committing crimes with the same amount of effort, they will usually choose to work.
As you have read above, DROs flourish through the creation of voluntary contracts between parties, and all property is private. How does this affect violent crime?
If I own a house, I will probably take out insurance against theft. My insurance company benefits most by preventing theft, thus they may offer me lower rates if I get an alarm system, just as occurs today.
The anarchist situation is more or less analogous to how it is now, with the large exception that DROs would be responsible for both policing and restitution, making their incentive for PREVENTION of crime much higher than the police of today, which is largely a reactionary institution.
However, the stateless society goes much, MUCH farther in preventing crime than a statist society could ever possibly achieve, by identifying criminals before they commit crimes, as will be illustrated shortly.
In a stateless society, contracts with DROs are required to lead any sort of economic and social life. Without DRO representation, individuals are unable to buy cars, houses, get jobs, send their children to school, or anything else. Any DRO will naturally ensure that its contracts include penalties for violent crimes – so if you steal a car, your DRO has the right to use ostracism against you to get the car back, and likely retrieval penalties as well.
How does this work in practice? Let’s take a test scenario.
One morning you wake up and decide to lead a life of crime! The first thing you will do is cancel your membership with your DRO, since your contract with your DRO includes many penalties for committing crimes, and you’d rather not deal with them. DROs will have clauses allowing you to cancel your coverage just as insurance companies do today. As soon as you notify your DRO you are dropping coverage, there’s no problem; you’re off the list.
While your DRO may be willing you drop you, DROs as a whole REALLY benefit from keeping track of who has coverage and who does not. Those who do not sign up with another DRO are clearly demonstrating an interest in dropping off the DRO grid, and are probably about to engage in a life of crime. Thus if you cancel your DRO service, your name goes into a database of people currently under no DRO insurance. If you sign up with another DRO, no problem, your name is removed from the list. If you do not, however, red flags will pop up whenever you attempt to do business with DRO-insured businesses.
So what happens to someone pursuing a life of crime? Well, there is no public property in a stateless society. All of the problems described in a “rogue lifestyle” arise. You cannot take a bus, because buses are private businesses that perceive you as a liability. You cannot get a hotel room, find a job, etc. Want to steal a car? You can, but where are you going to buy gas? You can try to hitchhike, but where will you be dropped off, and where will you stay the night? Want to sleep in the park? Parks are privately owned, keep moving. Getting hungry? Grocery stores and restaurants won’t serve you without DRO insurance. Society is extremely unfriendly to people seeking to commit crimes, but it does not use violence against them.
So, tell me, what incentive do you have to enter a life of crime? Working for a living, and being a member of a DRO, pays VERY well. Going off the grid and becoming rogue pits the entire weight of the DRO system against you, and even if you DO manage to steal something, it has probably been secured in some way to only be usable by the owner (thus lowering their insurance costs!).
Let’s figure you somehow bypass all of that. Where are you going to sell your stolen goods? You’re not protected by a DRO, so no one will buy from you, knowing they have no recourse if something goes wrong. Besides, anyone who associates with you may have their rates increased, or be dropped from the system themselves, inheriting all the unpleasantness that entails.
Will there be underground markets? Perhaps, but where will they operate? People need places to live, eat, clothes to buy, etc. No DRO means zero participation in economic life.
Furthermore, prostitution, gambling, and drugs will not be “illegal” in a stateless society (though as mentioned before, communities could be formed that prohibit them by contract). The elimination of the war on drugs alone would eliminate an estimated 80% of violent crime today. There are no import duties or restrictions, so smuggling becomes pointless. Currency would be private, making counterfeiting all the more challenging (we shall get into how THAT works in a note soon, seems impossible, doesn’t it?).
Plus, NO TAXATION. The take-home pay of your typical worker is extremely high!
Thus you can see how there is virtually no incentive to engage in a life of crime and tremendous incentive against it, while the incentives to live an honest life are enormous. Thus it is fair to say a stateless society does a far better job at protecting its citizens from crimes of motive than a statist society.
CRIMES OF PASSION
Crimes of passion are brought about by moments of extreme anger, fear, rage, etc., and are much harder to prevent. They are, however, little threat to those outside of the circle in which these raging emotions occur.
Let’s say a man kills his wife. They are both covered by DROs, of course, and their DRO contracts would include prohibitions against murder. Thus, the man would be subject to all of the sanctions provided for in his contract – likely confined labor, psychological treatment, and rehabilitation until a certain financial penalty was paid off, since the DRO would be responsible for a tremendous payment to the wife’s next of kin.
Fine, you say, but what if either the man or the woman was not covered by a DRO? Well, where would they live? Where would they work? Who would sell them food? What bank would accept their money?
Let’s say that only the murderous husband opted out of the DRO system without telling her. The first thing the wife’s DRO would do would be to inform her of her husband’s action – and the ill-intent it may represent – and then help her relocate if desired (it is, after all, not only morally preferable to help her live, but infinitely more profitable, since her DRO life insurance is likely for hundreds of thousands of dollars). If she refused to relocate, her DRO would likely immediately drop her coverage, as covering someone who lives with an imminently murderous man is an unacceptable financial risk. Now both the husband and wife are without DROs, and face all the troubles associated with such a lifestyle.
Thus, either murderers would be subject to all the stipulations on murder in their contracts (which are unlikely to vary significantly between DROs), or else they will drop their coverage before committing the murder, thus signaling their criminal intent and allowing intervention.
Let’s consider something more complex – stalking. A woman becomes obsessed with a man and starts calling him at all hours. If a man has bought insurance against stalking, his DRO will leap into action. It will call the woman’s DRO and request that they demand she stop stalking, or her rates will be increased, or her coverage terminated. How does her DRO know if the stalking has stopped? Well, the man stops reporting the harassment. If there is a dispute, she can wear a GPS ankle bracelet to prove the matter one way or the other. Furthermore, if the man’s neighbors are aware of her stalking, there is no public property – she can be ordered off sidewalks, streets, lawns, etc.
If the man has not bought insurance on stalking, he can still do so, but at a much higher rate, since there is a pre-existing condition.
Although they may seem unfamiliar to you, DROs are as old as civilization – they have simply been shouldered aside by states that use violence to impose their will. Public ostracism has been a means of discouraging sex out of wedlock, excessive fishing, adultery, not giving to charity, or whatever other moral beliefs a society wished to encourage. Violence is not a necessary method of convincing people to behave civilly. The potential benefits of DROs are limitless. Insurance could be purchased for such things as:
-A man’s wife giving birth to a child that is not his own
-Fertility problems for married couples
-A teenage daughter getting pregnant
and much, much more.
If the DRO profits by preventing such things from happening, then clearly they will work day and night to find ways to prevent them. This absolutely boggles the mind! Remember that all of these policies are absolutely VOLUNTARY, and thus do not violate the moral absolute of non-violence. No one will shoot you if you get knocked up at fifteen, but there will be many reasons to avoid it! Imagine your insurance company paying you an allowance to use protection, and a higher allowance if you refrain from sex. If you can find a way to make something profitable, in a stateless society, it can become a reality!
In conclusion, how does the stateless society deal with violent crime? BRILLIANTLY. In a stateless society, there are fewer criminals, more prevention, and greater sanctions – and instant forewarning of individuals intent on engaging in criminal activity. There are more incentives to work, fewer incentives for a life of crime, no place to hide for rogues, and general social rejection of those who wish to operate outside the civilized world of contracts, mutual protection, and general security. And remember, governments are responsible for over 200 million deaths in the 20th century – are we really so worried about jewelry shop holdups in comparison to that?
There is no system that can replace faulty men with heroes, but the stateless society, by rewarding virtue and punishing evil, will at least ensure that all devils are visible, instead of cloaking them in a deadly fog of power, politics, and propaganda.
STATELESS PRISONS
One of the great challenges of an anarchic society is the problem of prisons, or the physical restraint of violent criminals. If no one has the right to do violence against anyone else without a signed contract (and I doubt many would sign a contract granting the right to use violence against them (though maybe I’m wrong, since people put up with it in government today and defend it quite passionately)) it would seem difficult to arrest and restrain them.
We can assume that DROs will band together to take action against those who wish to egregiously harm their customers. Goods and services would be denied as described above, and such criminals would have trouble traveling, since roads, buses, airports, etc. are all private property. Anyone aiding a violent criminal would risk repercussions with their own DRO membership.
This solution is not sufficient for some people, who fear that sociopaths and violent criminals need to be physically restrained or imprisoned for society to be safe.
Before tackling this issue, I’d like to point out that if the problem of violent sociopaths is truly a tremendous issue, then this is a tremendous argument against the state. If there is a large group of people who wish to do violence against others, then obviously these people will be attracted to the one institution which can legally use violence – the government. These people are far less of a threat if violence is illegal for everyone. I am sometimes accused of being idealistic with my anarchic views. I find it far more idealistic (and frankly utterly ignorant) to believe that an institution which can legally do violence to anyone will not attract violent people. You don’t reduce violence by doing violence; you reduce violence by putting down the gun.
Whenever punitive measures are discussed, everyone fears injustice. Well, duh! Injustice happens in our system all the time! Thousands are raped, tortured, and killed without ever having committed a crime. Innocent people are sent to prison all the time, and the jails are teaming with millions upon millions of “criminals” incarcerated for non-violent crimes. Do police and prosecutors manufacturer evidence? Of course! Do people confess to lesser crimes in fear of being convicted of a greater crime they’re innocent of? Absolutely! Are police rewarded for preventing crime or convicting criminals? The latter.
Will people who start wars for personal benefit and murder thousands ever be held responsible for their crimes? Absolutely not. On the contrary, they get pensions.
Whatever fears you have of injustice in a stateless society are certainly founded, but they may be applied to a statist society fifty times over. You always have the option of appealing to another DRO, and you always have the option of living off the grid. In a statist society, you will be imprisoned for life or killed if you are found guilty of a violent crime you are innocent of. The stateless society is extremely harsh on criminals, but it is infinitely more merciful than the medieval methods we still use today.
THE RAPIST
Let’s consider what would happen to a rapist in a stateless society. All DRO contracts will include “rape protection,” since DROs will want to avoid medical, psychological, and income costs of rape incurred by their customers. Part of “rape protection” will be a large financial restitution to the victim (those who cannot afford rape protection will have it provided by charities or will be represented by lawyers pro bono is exchange for a cut of the restitution money).
If a woman is raped, she applies to her DRO for restitution. The DRO, looking to be refunded, hunts down the rapist with the most advanced forensics technology available. When the individual is found, an agent is sent to his house.
“Good morning sir,” the agent will politely say, “You have been charged with rape, and I am here to inform you of your options. We wish to make this process as painless and non-intrusive as possible, so we will schedule a trial at your earliest convenience. If you do not attend this trial, or testify falsely, or attempt to flee, we shall apply significant sanctions against you, which are outlined in your DRO contract. Our agreement with your bank allows us to freeze your assets – except for basic living and legal expenses – the moment you are charged with a violent crime. We also have agreements with airlines, road owners, buses, taxis, and train companies, as well as gas stations, which prevent you from leaving town until the matter is resolved.
“You can represent yourself in the trial, choose from one of our lawyers, or we will pay for any lawyer you prefer, at standard rates. Also, as per our existing contract, we are allowed access to your home for the purposes of investigation. You can deny us access to your property, of course, but we shall summarily assume you are guilty of the crime, and apply the sanctions provided in your contract.
“If you are found to be innocent of this crime, we will pay you the sum of twenty-thousand dollars, to be funded by the woman who has charged you of rape. We will also provide you with free psychological counseling to prevent association with such people in the future.”
The trial will commence, and a verdict will be reached. If the man is found guilty, he will be greeted by another DRO representative.
“Good afternoon sir,” the agent will say, “You have been found guilty of rape, and I am here to inform you of your punishment. We have a reciprocal agreement with your bank, which has allowed us to put a hold on your accounts and provided us with limited access. We will be deducting double the costs of our investigation from your account, as well as the sum of five-hundred thousand dollars to be distributed to the woman you raped. We are aware you do not have sufficient funds to cover these expenses, which will be discussed in a moment. We also have reciprocal agreements with those companies which supply water and electricity to your house, and those services will now be cut off. Furthermore, no gas station will sell you gasoline, nor will any airline or train station service you. We have made arrangements with all of the local grocery stores to deny you service, either in person or online. If you set foot on the road outside your house, you will be removed for trespassing on the private property of the owners of that road. Your wife and children can leave at any time. If they have no place to go, we will cover their transition costs and charge you for them.
“You have the right to appeal this sentence, and if you successfully appeal, these expenses will be transferred to the woman who has unjustly accused you. We will also reimburse you for your inconvenience. If, however, your appeals fail, the expenses will be incurred into your debt.
“I can tell you openly that if you choose to remain in your house, you will be unable to survive for long. You will run out of food and water. You can attempt to escape your house, of course, leaving all of your possessions. If you do successfully escape, be aware that you have been entered into a central registry, and no reputable DRO will represent you. Furthermore, all DROs which have reciprocal agreements with us – which is almost all of them – will withdraw services from any of their customers who aid you in any way. For the rest of your life, it will be nearly impossible for you to open a bank account, use centralized currency, carry a credit card, own a car, use any other sort of transportation, buy food, water, electricity, or lodging. You will spend your entire life running, hiding, and begging, and you will never find comfort, solace, or peace in any place.
“However, you have another option. If you come with me now, we will take you to a place where you can work for ten years. During this time, you will be working in a capacity determined by your own preference and skills. If you do not have any viable skills, we will train you. Your wages will go to us, and will be used to induct the costs of your incarceration, as well as any other costs outlined above which have not been covered by your existing funds. A small amount of your wages will be set aside to help you get started after your release.
“During your stay with us, we will do everything we can to help you, as we do not wish to go through this process with you again. You will take courses on ethics. You will take courses on anger management. You will receive psychological counseling. You will emerge from your work term a far better person. When you emerge, all of your rights will be restored, and you will once more be able to participate in economic and social life.
“You have a choice now, and I want you to appreciate the full ramifications of your choice. If you come with me now, this is the best offer I can give you. If you decide to stay in your house, and later change your mind, the penalties will be greater. If you escape, and later change your mind, the penalties will be greater still. In our experience, 99.99% of those who either run or stay in their homes change their minds, and end up that much worse. The remaining 0.01% committed suicide.
“The choice is now yours. Do the right thing. Do the wise thing. Come with me.”
Can we really imagine anyone would choose to stay in their home and die of thirst? Can we imagine they would choose a life of perpetual running and begging? Even if the rapist had no desire whatsoever to become a better person, the cost/benefit analysis of the situation is clear. He is far better off submitting to the incarceration.
There will always be a small percentage of just outright evil people. There are FAR better ways of dealing with them than throwing them into the state-run gulags we have today, making them a threat to other prisoners. Experience in prison often increases desire to do evil, as well as the skills to do so. It is also important to remember that modern prisons contain relatively few insane or evil people. The vast majority of those imprisoned are non-violent, enslaved in chains because they gambled, did drugs, hired a prostitute, failed to pay their taxes, or other such nonsense.
We now have two choices. The first is a system which removes the tiny minority of insane and evil people from society and puts them to work, refunding their victims and providing them with psychological and educational aid. It furthermore helps them to emerge as better, more productive members of society (and it is all privately funded!). Our other choice is a system which enslaves millions of non-violent offenders and encourages, protects, and funds violent criminals. Indeed, it even allows them to become Commander-in-Chief.
THESE CAGES ARE ONLY FOR BEASTS
Some who I have shared these ideas with have become profoundly concerned with the power of DROs in a stateless society, so I’d like to address those concerns here. When talking about how DROs deal with murderers and rapists, we are talking about an EXTREME situation. This is the kind of crime that many people today believe the death penalty is justified for. When I say that DROs will track criminals and deny them goods and services, I am not saying they can do this to just anyone. First of all, customer choice would make this impossible. You aren’t going to do business with a company that will destroy your entire life on a whim. It is also not in the best interest of a DRO to even attempt this. A store owner can ban anyone he wants, but if he bans arbitrarily, then his business will suffer. If a DRO drops customers punitively, they will soon find themselves without any customers at all.
The most important thing to remember is that DRO contracts are VOLUNTARY, but that they are voluntary on both your part and the DRO. If you are a good person, don’t commit crimes, and obey your contracts, DROs stand to make a lot of money off you, and they will be clamoring for your business. If you are a murderer, not only would they not want to do business with you on a moral level, but you stand to cost them millions. If people are afraid that DROs will transform into fascist police states, then DROs must address these fears with their customers and prevent this in their contracts, or no one will do business with them.
What kinds of things could be in these contracts? Well, maybe you could have a paragraph in your contract guaranteeing that any harassment by the DRO will result in a $50,000 pay off. You can also add a provision that any disagreement with the DRO can be arbitrated by a separate DRO. While DROs cooperate, keep in mind they also compete, and are more than happy to make themselves look just and righteous in contrast to their competitors.
In other words, anyone who says “DROs will turn into massive fascist dictatorships” is a FANTASTIC business opportunity to any DRO who can demonstrate they will not. If you dislike the idea of a DRO, simply ask yourself: is there any way my dislike or worries can be alleviated? If so, the magic of the free market will provide that solution. These are not governments – they cannot point a gun at you and force you to do their bidding. They only exist so long as you are satisfied with them, and if all else fails and no one is willing to serve your interests, start your own DRO and become a billionaire offering those services! Chances are you are not the only one who harbors your concerns.
If none of this appeals to you, then I guess the DRO system is not for you, but neither is the state system. The state system is already oppressive, one-sided, and dictatorial. Remember – in a free society, if you choose to do so, you have the option of living off the grid, completely removed from society altogether. So long as you don’t start stealing and murdering, no one will come after you. Whether you choose to live in the DRO society or outside of it, I can guarantee you, you will have infinitely more freedom than you have today, even under American Democracy.
DROS IN PRACTICE
For those of you who STILL think that DROs would become governments, I’d like to invite you to look at a DRO in existence today and let me know if you are afraid of it raising an army and hammering its fascist fist against your freedom. Currently, over 300,000 people rely on this DRO as their primary source of income. Most of the products sold are so inexpensive that lawsuits are not cost-effective, and transactions frequently cross incompatible national borders. In other words, this business, because of its completely international nature, exists in a stateless society. I shall give you a link to their website.
www.ebay.com
So how does Ebay resolve disputes? Simply through dialogue and dissemination of information. Here is a link to their dispute resolution page.
http://pages.ebay.com/help
If I do not pay for something I receive, I get a strike against me. If I do not ship something that was paid for, I get a strike. Everyone I deal with can rate my products, service, and support. If I am rated very poorly, my business is adversely affected, and I am forced to sell my products for less, since people will prefer less-risky vendors. If enough people rate me poorly, I will go out of business, because the risk of dealing with me will be too great. There are no police or courts or violence of any sort here – theft and fraud are dealt with through public sharing of information.
So now I have to ask you – are you particularly afraid of Ebay raising an army and turning itself into a quasi-government? Do you lie awake at night afraid the Ebay SWAT team will bust through your windows and drag you to an off-shore gulag where you will code in JAVA for the rest of your life? If you do, then you are paranoid indeed… I almost have to take my hat off to you! I don’t know how you live your life though.
Any system can be abused, which is why governments are awful. Checks and balances are necessary in any societal structure, and this is the greatest beauty of the anarchist society. If you feel something is too powerful, you need not do business with them. You can start your own watchdog company, or start a competing DRO. The sky is the limit.
Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!
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