Justin Schwartz wrote:
> [clip]
> criminal justice serves other goals and needs--partly retribution,
> and partly even less justifiable needs, such as suppressing the parts of the
> population that are its main object--the poor and minorities. --jks
>
I'm not sure how to develop this point, but it seems to me that at the present time the principle need (of the ruling class) that criminal justice serves is the need to have the population feel a need for the criminal justice system.
About 25 years ago I thoroughly convinced a bright young woman in one of my classes that rigorous welfare standards had the effect of lowering wages all through the system -- including hers. (The point to be made does not depend on the accuracy of this proposition, for she accepted it.) She also accepted that "catching cheats" would probably involve setting standards high enough that many legitimate claims would be denied (with a consquent lowering of benefits on the whole). Hence, "catching cheats" was not in _her_ interest. Her final conclusion: People shouldn't be allowed to get away with cheating.
Retributive justice (or, more accurately, a public belief in retributive justice) corrupts the public realm. It is a major barrier to working-class unity and intertwines importantly with racism. It is better that a thousand disabled people receive no benefits than that one fake should receive any. Et cetera. You have to watch "those people."
Carrol