--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Dec 12, 2007, at 1:43 PM, Wojtek Sokolowski
> wrote:
>
> > It strikes me as odd,
> > however, that a marginalized political faction
> > striving for recognition and political relevance
> > should embrace this issue as its key political
> agenda.
> > It is counterprductive, because whathever the
> left
> > has to say on this subject will be immediately
> > dismissed by the mainstream as an attempt to
> exonerate
> > criminals - which you admit is counterproductive.
>
> I sure don't want to "exonerate criminals" - there
> really are some
> nasty folks behind bars now. But that's not really
> the point. The
> point is that we criminalize far more behaviors, and
> incarcerate far
> more people, than any other place on earth. Why is
> that? Our rates of
> property crime aren't out of line with Western
> Europe's - the only
> area where we're real outliers is gun violence. Put
> people in jail
> for even a year and their subsequent life chances
> are really fucked.
> So not only do we have 2 million behind bars, we've
> got millions of
> more prison alums who are basically unemployable.
> This is a very
> serious problem. And it has nothing to do with
> "romanticizing crime,"
> as you like to say. It has a lot to do with asking
> why it is we have
> so many "criminals."
>
[WS:] True, but that has already been noted by many mainstream groups and powers that be including the SC (as evidenced, inter alia, by the recent ruling on sentencing guidelines), that are much more effective in addressing this issue than a fringe and unpopular political grouping. By "weighing in" on this issue (if that is an appropriate term, since the left has an awfully light weight in this country) the left can do more damage than good - like the KKK organizing a support rally for a Repug politician.
If you recall, I said time and again on this forum that imprisonment is a bad policy - it exacerbates the problem it purports to solve. But the real effects are very much different from popularly perceived effects that give the troubled public a peace of mind that "something" is done on an issue that otherwise seems unsolvable. It is a purely symbolic and deceptive feeling, but it gives people a peace of mind - just like magical rituals, prayers, gun ownership, or tough talking to Iran and other symbolic enemies of the "Amerikan way of life."
Pointing to the futility of such measures is not only counterproductive, but also it is likely to draw public anger to the messenger. People want to feel safe and secure, and if you disrupt that sense of safety and security (no matter how false,) people will likely reject you and your message.
I quite frankly think that the US is a far more violent and crime ridden place than most other developed countries - and this is deeply rooted in the social structure and history of this country. I also believe, however, that undoing that is very unlikely, if at all possible, at least during our life time, no matter what approach one takes - prison, rehabilitation, social work, whatever. It is going to stay with us for the rest of our own lives (I'm 55), and there is very little we as society can do about that - changing that will take a few generations. Therefore, the most rational approach is to accept that fact and try to minimize its impact on society. Ranting about it will not only fail to change it, but it will further alienate the majority of the population that already feel threatened by it.
Wojtek
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