 Why does Joe want to be an EX?
If I get drunk, I can join the AAA and get free room and board for a month while they give me a treatment." When you try to get a job, they ask to see your ID before they even tell you if there's an opening or not. jobs like all DCTs get. I've been a garbage man, street-cleaner, ditch-digger—" On the other side of the room, the jukebox came to life with a roar and a group of teen-agers scrambled to the dance floor. A civilization weary of murder, robbery, kidnapping, counterfeiting, blackmail, rape, arson, and drunkenness had originated the CPA—Crime Prevention Association. There were no longer any prisons—CPA officials had declared loudly and emphatically that their job was to prevent crime, not punish it. They had made crime almost impossible, and during the previous year, only a few hundred men in the whole country had been convicted of criminal acts. Instead, he was sent to a hospital where all criminal tendencies were removed from his mind by psychologists, shock treatments, encephalographic devices, a form of prefrontal lobotomy and a dozen other methods. The CPA system was, actually, cheaper than previous methods because it did away with the damage caused by countless crimes; did away with prisons and their guards, large police forces, squad cars and weapons. He was a hero to the millions of men and women who had suppressed impulses to kill someone, beat their mates, get drunk, or kick a dog. Not only a hero, but because of the CPA Treatment, he was—when he left one of the CPA hospitals—a thoroughly honest and hard-working individual ... a man who could be trusted with any responsibility, any amount of money. And therefore, an EX (a convicted criminal who received the treatment was commonly called an Ex because he was in the strictest sense of the word an Ex-criminal) ... A crime because it theoretically inflicted psychological injury upon the intended victim—and because millions of women voters had voted it a crime. On the other hand, attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping, etc., were not crimes. They weren't crimes because the DCT didn't complete the act, and if he didn't complete the act, that meant simply that the CPA had once again functioned properly. Joe discovered to his dismay that the girl was telling the truth when she said she was a sergeant in the WSDA. And, in slightly smaller print, the ID card stated that the owner was a DCT First Class.
 An EX was always offered the best jobs.
 An EX was always offered the best jobs.  An EX has no more criminal tendencies.  An EX could be trusted with any responsibility.  An EX was a hero to millions.