The Complexity of Violent Crime and The Role of State-Sanctioned Killing

Ryan McMaken
Oct. 23, 2015

Violence, whether private sector (i.e., "crime" and non-state "terrorism") or government sector (war and police actions) are at the center of the debate about the state and its uses. Those who want stronger more centralized states will often argue that one of the main benefits of a stronger, more centralized state is its ability to punish or prevent acts of violence against those who are forced to pay for said state. "Yes, you're taxed," they'll say "but without us you'd be at the mercy of murderers and foreign despots."

And, as we're reminded every time there's a media-induced moral panic over gun-related crime, a vast coercive state will be held up by its supporters as the thin line between safety and chaos.

Their position is that unless the state monopoly on coercion is further strengthened and centralized by law (by legally placing more coercive power in the hands of the police, and less in the hands of private citizens) then murder rates will soar.

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