[lbo-talk] Framed (Was Everything's coming up roses)

[Kelley]

At 07:18 AM 6/23/03 -0400, Maria Gilmore wrote:
>I don't have anyone to quote, <G> but something occurs to me.
>"Consequential" punishment is a method of getting most people in a society
>to toe a line by making examples of individuals; it isn't necessarily too
>picky about the guilt or innocence of the specific cases, the important
>thing is to deter behavior across the board.  The "you've gotta break some
>eggs to make an omelet" argument.   It's okay with the occasional innocent
>being one of those broken eggs for the greater good.   Except...there are
>always going to be people who KNOW that person is an innocent victim.
>Family, friends, defense attorneys, not to mention cops, prosecutors,
>judges...and of course the person themselves.   So every innocent punished
>in such a system generates resentment, disillusionment, and cynicism about
>the society in possibly dozens of others, for whom the deterrent effect
>likely won't work because they know justice has not been done, the innocent
>has been punished and the guilty has not.   After a while you're going to
>have a reservior of people in this society who know the system's idea of
>"justice" is a load of crap.   People with that attitude, I'd think,
>wouldn't be deterred from anti-social behavior, in fact they'd be more apt
>to offend against the society in some way...again, a vengeance model in
>reverse...

As a public defender once told me, "Most people that end up in my office 
are poor; they're guilty of something."

He grew up poor, Hispanic, in Texas. He became a PD because he had ideals, 
once.

Kelley