Economists argue that reducing crime to zero would cost more than the crime itself
Economic analysis of the justice system suggests that reducing crime to zero is logically impossible because the cost of total prevention would exceed the value of the goods protected.
Nobel laureate Gary Becker applied rational choice theory to criminology, proving that every society has an 'optimal' level of crime that it must tolerate to remain economically viable. If a city spent its entire budget on surveillance and policing to stop every minor theft, it would bankrupt itself and destroy the very commerce it sought to protect.
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