>I think a real serious case can be made (I believe Angela Davis has
>written on this) that the criminal justice system creates more crime
>than it prevents -- especially more street crime. And certainly, the
>most vicious and destructive street gang in Chicago is the Chicago
>Police Department.
Nathan Newman, who's unfortunately taking a vacation from this list, pointed out to me yesterday that lefties who take these sorts of attitudes towards the criminal justice system obviously don't spend much time talking with working class people of color, who generally think the cops spend too much time repressing them and not enough time responding to their complaints and going after real bad guys.
And, a contribution from the much-maligned world of public opinion research, courtesy of the invaluable Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics <http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/>:
Question: "In general, do you think the courts in this area deal too harshly or not harshly enough with criminals?" (General Social Survey, 1998)
not
too harshly about
harshly enough right male 15 72 7 female 12 76 6
white 13 75 4 black 12 71 12
Not much of a gender or race gap on this question. Which isn't to say it's good policy advice, but it does show the left has some work to do on criminal justice issues.
Doug