by Bruce Benson

Government-run police forces and other elements of the criminal justice system---courts, prosecutors, prisons, etc.---are all historically recent developments. Prior to their development, justice was largely administered on a community and private basis, with crime treated as an offense directly against the victim instead of the state. With the failure of government-run criminal justice programs to reduce crime rates, Benson argues that the time has come to reconsider private alternatives. He discusses for-profit prisons and security forces, dispute arbitration, community-based policing and sanctions, and other ways to make criminal justice more effective and accountable while reducing cost and the unchecked power of the state. This book is an eye-opening rebuttal to the tired arguments that more government money and more laws are the only solutions to rising crime rates.