As we’ve seen this past year and a half or so, there are not only a lot of crazy people out there, they have a surprising amount of cultural and political power. One of the loudest screechings of the Crazy People is to “defund the police,” which, when examined, generally actually means “get rid of the police, and courts, and prisons.” This idea is of course insane. But we live in an increasingly insane world, so it might be worth pondering what might be the eventual result. In a world where the judicial system is gone, what would replace it? Third-world-style warlords are the obvious likely outcome. Murder, mayhem, generalized horror and collapse.
But perhaps there’s a middle ground compromise. Let’s go old school and largely empty out the prisons. What to do with the convicts, though? We used to have a solution: outlawry. If you’re unfamiliar with the actual basics of outlawry, the below video might be helpful, but the summary is this: an outlaw is, in fact, outside of the law. You lose all rights. Someone can murder you, and that someone will face no legal repercussions whatsoever. If someone renders you aid, *they* will face the wrath of the law. Life for an outlaw was bad enough hundreds of years ago; today it would likely be fairly brief as the Internet would spread your face and info around. There would doubtless be online databases of outlaws, and with facial recognition you’d be spotted quickly. You’d be fair game not only for murder… but for *slavery.* Medical experimentation. Organ “donations.” Really unpleasant dark web video presentations.
So… maybe re-institute outlawry? Start small, with tightly focused crimes. Murder and rape, of course. Blocking roads for protests seems like a good one. Using arson for politics.