<< Many choices which are considered "bad" by society at
large do not bother me at all, such as the choice to smoke pot or get high
on heroin. Similarly, many property crimes are probably justified from a
social justice perspective. The left needs to do more than just say, "I
believe in responsibility too," which most people will take as conservative
position. It needs to clearly articulate what responsibility means in a
larger context, and educate people on social justice issues, in order to
fully reclaim the concept from the right. >>
I agree with Brad about the inanity of our drug laws. Pot should be legal, period. Heroin should be availlable by prescription. From a purely consequentialist pov, overcriminalization of drugs probably creates crime as addicts steal and mug to get their fixes.
Brad's conception of property crimes as a sort of self-help social redistribution, however, is naive and sentimental. Even if it would be more just for Robber to have the money in Lawyer's wallet, and even if a just society would take the money from Lawyer in taxes and give it to Robber as a subsidy, that doesn't mean that it's OK for Robber to take matters into his own hands. There is a social harm in fear and the violation occasioned by even nonviolent property crimes that you are not taking into account. Have you ever been robbed or burglarized? And the fear and violation are far greater, and the rsik of physical harm much higher, with violent crimes. Have you ever been stuck up?
I agree, of course, that we need to expound the idea of responsibility in the context of a left perspective on crime and society. Has anyone read Jeff Reiman's nice little text, the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison?
--jks