From one of your comments...
Its an interesting idea. In South Africa, economic participators, like myself, are taxed at a marginal rate of 40%, and still have to contract for private security, health, education, etc because the state provision is so poor.
First, keep in mind that by the numbers you posted, things are getting worse each year (with a government trying to change things by force).
What is the reason for the massive crime rate?
Solving such problems most likely requires knowing why they exist in the first place, whether it be because of poverty, ignorance, cultural values, people being unwilling or unable to band together, or something else.
That being said...
If your marginal tax rate (and that of those you contract with) was reduced to 0% (e.g. you had no government):
- Could people better afford to defend themselves?
- Would some crime stop because one it would be less risky to be productive than to be a criminal?
- Would the living standard of people rise? (most likely yes... I know of no governments that tax the people, add money to the pot, and then use every last bit to provide the very best services they can to their subjects)
- Would their be incentive for businesses and traders to come to the area that would outweigh the risks? (no tax is a big incentive, but for people and businesses that don't contract their own security no state is a big risk)
I don't claim to have real answers, but as you pointed out yourself, it doesn't really look like more government is the answer either.
Taking 40% of your stuff and not providing even good protection? Ouch.
I think you are correct to focus on the causes of the statistic. Yours is the first comment to interrogate that issue - perhaps it is the most important one. How do decentralised self-interested actors perform this task better than centralised agents? what happened to economies of scale? How do functional communities deal with adjacent dysfunctional ones who spill over the one into the other?
It also seems to be a fallacy that crime is the preserve of the poor and uneducated as white collar crime powerfully refutes. In fact, violent crime often impacts more directly on the poor.
Thanks for your input!
I was thinking on this a bit more today as I came home from getting garden supplies and realized that one very simple thing that could be done with no government would be to group up with 3 other individuals that also worked (preferably neighbors) and see about each pitching in 20% (still 20% better off than with a 40% tax rate) each to hire someone to guard your property while you were working.
Save up the other extra 20% and slowly purchase weapons with which to defend yourselves and, if possible, travel to work together.
Of course, without knowing the reasons for the horrific crime rate, it would be almost impossible to propose rational answers to them.