This Judge Dredd graphic novel is an absolute classic. In the future – in Mega City One – Judge Maitland comes to realise that more Judges on the streets means more crime. As she tells the Justice Department: “Force is our primary tool… The main target of that force is our own citizens. So we end up in a loop: we pay to crush the citizens down. Their lives become miserable. They have more reason to oppose us. We counter that opposition with more force. Soon the city is using all of its resources to fight itself.” Her solution is to move funding away from the Justice Department and into education and social programmes. She finds an unlikely ally in Judge Dredd but there are plenty of others who oppose her plans. This timely tale has plenty of echoes today, not least in the much misunderstood “Defund The Police” movement. RM

Published by 2000AD