Subject: War against Crime, was Re: RE; G. Bush etc

[Michael Pugliese]

Carroll Cox wrote:
>
The main point about the death penalty is that it is the cutting edge (for
propaganda and ideological purposes) of the war against crime (and in
particular the "get tough on crime" part of that war). Any sentence that
forbids parole is essentially as barbaric as (perhaps more barbaric than)
the death penalty. Except in the most extraordinary cases, no prison
sentence should run more than 10 years or less. This is the only way to
foreclose the barbaric sentences given in the U.S. for trivial crime (or
for "crime" that is crime only because the law treats it as that).

The "Life without Parole" sentence is in fact a disguised death sentence.
Advocating it as an alternative to the death sentence is political
cowardice.

Carrol

P.S. The usual use of  "pc" -- "I know it is not pc, but" -- is the liberal
equivalent of a sheet, hood and noose. The use or defence of the term
is contemptible.See Gary MacLennan's >article on PC in Monthly Review.

I'll go the library later to read Gary's piece on PC. Musta missed that
issue.Has Carroll read John Wilson, Duke Univ. Press book on PC? Or "Why The
Left Is Wrong On Crime, " Socialist Review, #89, mid-80's (no date on the
spine or inside) by Nicole Hahn Rafter. David Greenberg, "Crime and
Capitalism, "(also the author of , "The Construction of Homosexuality, "
Univ. Chicago Press). Richard Quinney's work, the pamphlet, "Iron Fist,
Velvet Glove, " by a left criminologists collective at UC Berkeley diverse
enough to have Tony Platt and Elliott Currie.

   And if there was a hint of that old, "I know it's politically
incorrect..." conceit... well, living
in a f****d up neighborhood overhearing muggers jacking up people with 10
cents more than they do at 2 AM makes one a little less "liberal" on crime.
Spare me all the stats on the thousands in for smoking pot (as one who still
enjoys the "devil weed" hope I never get busted and sent down the river) and
robbing the 7-11 of a Ben Franklin or two.
And no, I don't believe that murderers act according to econometric
cost-benefit calculus factoring in the potential of getting fried by the
State for killing. Seen and believe the NAACP/NLG/Death Penalty Focus stats
on the racist, anti-poor death penalty.

                                   Michael Pugliese