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

[Carrol Cox]

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?

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