[lbo-talk] Barbara Ehrenreich

Dennis Claxton ddclaxton at earthlink.net
Mon Aug 10 13:41:07 PDT 2009


At 12:59 PM 8/10/2009, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:


>[WS:] This probably the last one and probably not that important in
>a greater scheme of life.

So why is the system so huge and bigger now than ever? Going further back, from the late 19th century forward the criminal justice system in the South was certainly one of the most important ways to control and marginalize black communities.


>There are multiple layers of society that benefit from these
>policies, that goes well beyond the mythical "upper classes."
>Prisons create jobs in many remote areas so different social layers
>in those areas from underemployed working class to local politicos
>support criminalization.

Prisons are built *after* the policies that make them necessary are implemented. The jobs they create are lousy ones that mostly go to people who don't live where the prison is built. Even if they did go to people in the area, those people would not want them if their local economies weren't already gutted, leaving them with few choices.


>Suburban property owners fearing that public transit will bring
>"more crime" to their neighborhoods - and so on.

Again, this gets the cart a little ahead of the horse. You are discounting the great efforts put out in the last 40 years to stoke fear of crime. It's one of the main domestic issues that brought the neocons to power and kept them there.



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