Pick a Crime

"Pick a Crime" by Richard Rein Smith introduces a future where a system called the CPA has practically eliminated crime by monitoring and altering individuals with criminal tendencies. The story follows Joe Harper, labeled with Dangerous Criminal Tendencies, as he struggles to find his place in a society that seemingly offers no room for those predisposed to wrongdoing. Ironically, Joe yearns to commit a crime, seeing it as a way to be accepted and given a chance at a normal life through rehabilitation; he plots committing a robbery but gets captured. In the end, Joe undergoes treatment, and the story reveals how a society without crime might come at the cost of individuality.