[lbo-talk] Penal nation

Wojtek S wsoko52 at gmail.com
Fri Apr 30 12:21:31 PDT 2010


The fact that the US has the highest per capita prison population that any country has ever "achieved" is well known and discussed on this list.

However these judicial penalties are a tip of the iceberg of extra-judicial penalties to which the US society is subjected. Virtually every incorporated non-governmental entity, from a local library to condominium associations, utility companies, telecoms, credit card companies, inscos, banks etc. have the power of imposing penalties on physical persons (which cannot be reciprocated i.e. a physical person cannot impose a penalty on a corporate entity.) These penalties are typically financial or in some cases denial of services - bug they are extra-judicial. These penalties are imposed at the sole discretion of the respective agencies with no due process or appeal. They may not be as onerous as a jail term, but they are so widely spread that virtually noone can escape them.

I wonder if any other country achieved this level of extra-judicial penalization of the entire society. Any thoughts?

Wojtek



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