Anthropological take on overcriminalization:
1. We’re all hard-wired to exploit resources in our environment. For hunter-gatherers, this includes casting the net broadly regarding what’s edible and also being very clever at catching/collecting.
1. We’re all hard-wired to exploit resources in our environment. For hunter-gatherers, this includes casting the net broadly regarding what’s edible and also being very clever at catching/collecting.
2. Think of cops as modern-day hunter-gatherers. Cops never tire of telling us how they don’t write the laws, they just enforce them (false, they lobby like crazy), and they can’t pick and choose which laws to enforce (also false, they do so constantly). But let's play along.
3. Vocationally, what “resources” are cops looking for? Basically people they can arrest, cite, or seize assets from--that’s how cops demonstrate productivity. A cop who fails to write tickets or make arrests is going to have major problems with the bosses.
4. In a wildly overcriminalized society like ours, there’s a good chance any given person has committed some sort of violation--be it an actual crime like theft, a bullshit crime like drug possession, or just a citable offense like speeding.
5. We all derive psychic satisfaction from effectively exploiting the resources in our environment. For hunter-gatherers, this means being observant, omnivorous, and clever at catching animals, raiding bee hives, digging up truffles; etc.
6. For cops, violations are a kind of "resource." Again, they say it’s not for them to decide which laws to enforce, so if they see a violation they’ve got to act. But maybe the impulse runs even deeper--maybe there’s a psychic satisfaction in creatively spotting violations.
7. So if your job is to enforce ALL laws, no matter how pettifogging, then people who violate those laws in effect become your prey. And if virtually all of us are violators of some law or another (which we are), then we are all prey. /end
