Firstly, it can be argued that crime is a universal issue and not only one which affects less affluent

members of society. For example, embezzlement and fraud are generally associated with white-collar
workers. This suggests that poverty is not always main driver behind criminal activities. Although poorer
people may commit crimes in order to improve their financial situation, there may be other factors too,
such as social pressure or a thrill-seeking personality, they may see themselves operating beyond the
law, despite knowing their actions are inappropriate

Taking the aforementioned points into consideration, it is clear that a punishment-free society may
negatively affect the amount of crime committed. Many people suggest that improving living conditions
is the most effective way to reduce crime, but this may not be the case if the reason for committing is
more complex than just being related to necessity, for example. Additionally, if there were no
punishment in our society, it would be difficult to each young people that their actions have
consequences and this could result in an increase in criminal activity. Although some people disagree as
to the effectiveness of punishment as a deterrent, the threat of punishment will most likely affect some
individual’s decisions to commit crimes and therefore could be argued to be useful to some extent.

In conclusion, it is very difficult to determine whether improving conditions would be a more effective
means to preventing crime than punishment. Currently, we do not know what a punishment-free
society would be like, whereas we know that punishments are effective to some extent.