Money is often described as the root of all evil. This is a poor cliche. Actually it's not even correct - 'The love of money is the root of all evil' is the more correct form. Regardless, money is a formalization of good will, and effectively having money is an equivalent of people owing you favors, like working for you or giving you things. Clearly this is a desirable commodity, and people will do evil things for it.
If money did not exist, people would target some other commodity in their crimes. It would be harder for criminals to gain from other commodities - ie crime would be less efficient. Unfortunately so would the economy. Anyone who believes that it is worthwhile to reduce the efficiency of the economy (by the abolition of money) in order to reduce the efficiency of crime has extremely poor judgment.
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