Criminals Contribute to the State more than the State Provides for them.

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Criminals are often seen as a big burden on citizens and the state rather than as helpers. They can cause immeasurable harm, for example, to their victims including leaving victims both physically and psychologically traumatised, and robbing victims of their invaluable life assets. They also cost the state a fortune in terms of the money that is spent on prosecution of suspects and incarceration of prisoners. Despite all these perceptions, criminals may be contributing to the state more than the state is spending on them.

Criminals create employment opportunities, for example, for a significant proportion of the workforce. Every state in the world has police forces to prevent crimes, arrest and detain suspects, and to ensure law and order. The United Kingdom is not an exception. As of 31 March 2013, there were 129,584 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in the 43 police forces of England and Wales (Office for National Statistics, 2013). There are also a significant number of people who are employed as prison officers, prison workers or as probationary officers. This is just to mention but a few. If there are no crimes and criminals, the vast majority of these people would not be in work or would be competing with other people for jobs in other areas of work life.

Criminals also provide platforms for politicians to attract voters during electioneering period. Research shows that the vast majority of people tend to be afraid of crimes even though they have not necessarily suffered as victims of crimes. Politicians tend to exploit this fear of crime whilst campaigning for an election by promising to be tough on crimes and criminals. A politician can lose an election for failing to address this voters’ fear of crimes. Thus, without criminals in society politicians will work extra hard to convince voters why they should vote for them.

All these do not suggest however that it is good to lead a life of crime. As have been mentioned earlier, crimes can cause significant harm both to the victims of crime and the state. In addition, having a criminal record can deny a person a decent job for life.

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