[lbo-talk] Abolish the Prison System was RE: Occupy O...

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Thu May 3 05:35:32 PDT 2012


That of course is my point: it makes a good slogan, mobilizes people, & generates extensive discussion among those mobilized. That discussion includes much that might inform policy, but more important it leads to a deeper understanding of connections -- crime & police & the purposes of the system and how those purposes relate to other needs. It would almost certainly (just incidentally but definitely) also lead to recognition of the _limits_ of the so-called prison-industrial complex. In other words, it would generate, within a political thrust, all the concerns of policy wonks and social analysts. But the slogan that generates it has to be abolish the prison system. Anything more "nuanced" kills conversation.

Carrol

-----Original Message-----

From: michael yates Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 9:27 PM Occupy Oakland reports and pics

I was once chosen to be in the crime survey you are talking about. The survey taker was relentless in calling me to set up the interviews. I had no reason not to tell the truth, and I believed the assurances I was given concerning anonymity and the like. It was all pretty routine. No undercount came from my answers. Or overcount.

I think that abolish the criminal justice system is a good slogan. As Michael Tigar pointed out in a Monthly Review essay that was, I think, part of a special issue on prisons and the CJ system in the United States, every aspect of this system discriminates against those without money. It is corrupt from top to bottom. There are plenty of dangerous people out there, but if Finland can say that a triple murderer shouldn't obviously be locked up forever and believes that such a person is not irredeemable, then why can't we do the same?

This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list