As Pinker&#x27;s research has demonstrated, when we move from vigilante &quot;justice&quot; to a <i>centralized</i> system of rules and punishments, over-all violence is greatly reduced and over-all social stability is greatly increased.<p>It turns out to be a <i>really</i> good thing to give The People In Charge a monopoly on violence and punishment. For optimal stability, The Punishers must <i>also</i> be accountable to the people that they serve. Lamentably, we&#x27;re doing poorly on the whole accountability part, but the alternative to a State monopoly on violence is -historically- <i>far</i>, <i>far</i>, <i>far</i> worse than the situation that we have today.