the extreme limit (anarchy) isn't a practical possibility, since no government, however small, would give up its coercive power that way. it's more fruitful to

the extreme limit (anarchy) isn't a practical possibility, since no government, however small, would give up its coercive power that way. it's more fruitful to talk about varying levels of policing and varying legal consequences, and the prevailing conclusion there is that murder rates aren't particularly sensitive to these variables in the practical bands of interest. but note that "policing" need not be done by a police force--in tribal groups for instance, tribal members generally police each other. we'd be better served by having many more detectives, and far fewer gun-toting beat cops, if we were interested in solving more murder cases though. that's the kind of policy discussion we should be having, not the politically-driven narratives that currently prevail around the topic.