Why didn't the Romans conquer crime?

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Why didn’t the Romans conquer crime?

The Romans were efficient and rational people. Their leaders were ruthless. You might think this would make them ideally suited to the task of conquering crime and yet they were not able to effectively.

The Romans did try to stop crime but they just didn’t prevent it well enough.

They Romans had many laws. All laws were made by the Emperor and the Senate. They were written down in detail, often updated and covered all aspects of crime, from the assassination of the Emperor to everyday crimes such as street theft and burglary, even selling underweight bread in the market.

There were also laws designed to make Rome a better place to live in. Laws laid down, that householders had to keep pavements and streets clean outside their homes.

Dumping waste in the River Tiber, where drinking water came from, was illegal and so were starting fires. There was great danger of fire spreading rapidly and destroying hundreds of homes.

The first recorded Roman laws were the Twelve Tables, which were written down around 450BC. Children learned them by heart at school.  

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In the early years of Rome there was no police force in the city. If a Roman was attacked or robbed, then they had to catch the criminal themselves, with help from friends and neighbours. This often led to more violence. In AD6 the Emperor Augustus set up forces to police Rome. However, the situation with crime did not change much. Most were occupied with fire fighting. The core of the police was riot troops.

The Roman Empire did not have an effective enough police force. They had three different types of police force but none of ...

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