Why Ending Crime With Copiosis Is Easy

Ending most crime through Copiosis is easy because most crime that happens today because people either want things they don’t have, or because they get aggressive when they lose their cool.

Both of these reasons are far, far less likely in Copiosis because Copiosis makes people really free. And when people are really free, they have all the time (and means) to get what they don’t have, and they have less reason to lose their cool.

A recent story out of Pew makes our point. The most common crimes in the US are property crimes and assaults.

Most crime involves someone taking someone else’s shit. Violent crime most commonly happens when someone beats the shit out of someone. Robbery rape and killing people happen far, far less often.

It’s no baseless boast claiming Copiosis eliminates most crime. “Most crime” according to the table above combines property crimes (the beige bars) and aggravated assault. Hard to ague that if those crimes stopped, “most crime” wouldn’t exist.

So let’s quickly look at how Copiosis does this:

It starts with a better economic framework

Stopping crimes requires giving people real freedom. What people think freedom today is, isn’t freedom at all. If you must work, for example, and pretty much everyone does, then you’re not free. If you must “afford” necessities such as healthcare, food and such, that means you must get money somehow.

That means you’re not free.

We define freedom specifically at Copiosis:

Eliminating crime requires each person enjoying total, real freedom. Making that happen requires a new economic framework because neither capitalism, communism nor socialism provides this level of freedom.

In this new system, every person receives their basic necessities at no cost to them. People providing these things are richly rewarded by the community, not the individual getting the necessities. How this happens is beyond the scope of this piece, but a deep and exhaustive explanation exists here.

So basic necessities, defined as basic, but delicious and nutritious food of all varieties; basic, quality, socially acceptable clothing for most occasions; all the medical and mental healthcare one might need, with the exception of elective procedures; basic, but luxurious housing, and all one’s education, are all provided to everyone at no cost.

Setting aside how all this happens, were it happening today, a large number of crimes would disappear. We’ve seen already how increasing prosperity today largely is responsible for two decades of crime reduction, with crime dropping up to 50 percent. Everyone having their basic needs met without paying for them undoubtedly increases prosperity for everyone. With basic needs provided at no cost to everyone, there is less need for criminal acts.

So necessity provision is better at fighting crime than policing. It’s preventative and it costs nothing, but only if it is done this way.

Another economic framework requires redesigning how labor and production gets rewarded.

Let’s reward labor and production so that said rewards can’t be passed from one person to another. Making these rewards non-transferrable eliminates virtually every money-related crime. A money-related crime happens when someone takes your money against your will either by force, fraud or swindle. Such crimes always mean your money leaves your pocket and goes into the perpetrator’s pocket.

But if money can’t transfer between people, then every crime where money changes hands becomes impossible.

The next thing we do in redesigning the economic framework, and thus eliminate most crime is eliminating debt. Debt seems natural in our world only because we’ve lived with it so long. It is possible to eliminate debt, which we explain, but it’s too complex to describe in an article talking about eliminating crime.

Still, let’s assume all debt is eliminated and once it is, people never ever can get in debt again. Debt can make people criminals. So eliminating debt reduces crime.

Finally, let’s say this new way of rewarding labor reorganizes the labor market such that nearly anything a person does merits “pay”. The vast majority of human activity today has no value in capitalism, even though such activities are extremely valuable, including raising kids, homeschooling, helping a friend through emotional trouble, or helping someone move. But in this new approach, rather than income-producing opportunities defined by capitalism’s narrow focus, nearly anything a person does results in income since everything a person does produces value.

Since nearly anything someone does creates income, getting income is easier in this new system. In today’s labor market, even having the right education or experience doesn’t guarantee one gets a job. But in this new justice system, nearly anything someone does, controlling one’s weight, taking care of one’s parents, helping someone move, planting a tree, cleaning up a beach…results in income. The more beneficial the action, the more income a person gets. This increases prosperity for everyone and makes people feel more worthy, which has a crime-reduction benefit.

Those are the systemic changes. So now, how do these eliminate today’s common crimes?

Let’s look at examples:

Money theft. Let’s call money’s replacement in this new world “Net Benefit Reward (NBR)”. Remember, it is nontransferable, so extortion, fraud, NBR theft, or swindles can’t happen because the extortionist, fraudster, thief and swindler can’t get their hands on another’s NBR. Even if someone’s NBR account gets destroyed, that person isn’t at a loss for much. They still have all their material possessions and necessities keep coming while their accounts are recovered.

Property crimes are largely eliminated because all property is private and thus registered to its owner. So when someone takes someone’s property, not only can the rightful owner get a new one if she wants that, the one she had can be tracked and recovered if she prefers that. Should a property thief try to fence luxury they don’t own, they wouldn’t be able to because such a deal must be registered in the system framework if the thief wants NBR. Only declared transaction’s are measured and rewarded. Besides, with all necessities provided, and plenty of income coming in from just being a good person, why would someone be compelled to take another person’s shit? Which brings us to the next topic:

Crimes based on perceived need, such as stealing food, medicine, clothing, etc. are reduced too because these things are provided at no cost to everyone. With everyone getting their needs met at no cost, desperation disappears…and so do crimes prompted by that.

Vandalism might continue for a while, until ubiquitous surveillance, passive countermeasures or other techniques become so pervasive and effective such acts aren’t worth it. I know most vandalism, like graffiti, happens because of broken home situations leaving youth desperate, needy and angry. None of that happens in this new framework as people are free and receiving income all the time.

Most property vandalism can be repaired and damaged property replaced. In this new system, that’s a no-cost affair and so much easier than today.

Crimes in which people beat the shit out of others drop too since getting fired, being passed over for promotion, or other events that might trigger anger or resentment become things of the past for the most part. Other triggering conditions, such as a cheating spouse or divorce still exist, but with an abundance of no-cost mental health services, many crimes originating in such conditions might not happen at all or if they do, could be mediated by professionals, again, at no cost.

Crimes of envy or prestige results from feeling powerless in the face of another’s success, or experiencing the zero sum game simulation resulting from feeling one competes with another for scarce resources.

In this new system, pretty much anything a human does for others or the Earth merits NBR. What’s more, luxury items likely wouldn’t require as much NBR as they do with money today, because today, “prices” must cover “costs” and generate “profit”.

In this new system there are no costs and producers don’t get “profit”, they’re rewarded for Net Benefit Value (NBV) they create. Luxuries then are easier to get than today.

Ending crimes is easy, but not with today’s market economies. Switching to a new economic framework that gives people real freedom can end crimes and transform life experience for everyone.

We consider this new framework worth exploring. Maybe now, you do too.