Random thoughts and happenings
Brief life update: life is fine. It's been ridiculously hot in the 'Ville these days, which is fine when I'm at Eli's house enjoying the a/c, not so fine when I'm here at home sweltering. But, thanks be to our most gracious God that it cools down mightily in at night, making sleeping a pleasurable thing. Mr. Jones is not a fan of the heat - he just lies there on the floor and gives me a pathetic look now and then. Joshua is so kind that he occasionally wipes Moses down with cool, damp towels to help him sweat. :o)
Yesterday we had a visit from Katie Wray, who was in town for job training. We tried a restaurant that was previously uncharted - Monsoon. It's a Thai place that has interesting atmosphere, but not so great service. The food was decent - not the best food ever, but I would eat there again. I was a little disconcerted by the fact that I ordered my meal to be "medium" spicy, and it wasn't spicy in the least bit. Oh well. After Monsoon, we came back to the apartment and talked about all sorts of things, from marriage, to personality maleability, to rape, etc. It was interesting. I had to leave for work obscenely early this morning, but Joshua saw Katie off with wit and charm, I'm sure.
Now, for a few words on prison that I've been promising you. First off, our dear friends the Palmisanos lent us the entire first season of Arrested Development on DVD. It is hilarious and really doesn't have anything to do with my prison post, except that the father is in prison and is hilarious. So, I thought I should mention it. Thanks K & E for hours of humorous pleasure. So, my thoughts on prison (inspired by my favorite sociologist ever, D.J. Ayers): Remember when prisoners used to have to work on chain gangs? Why did we ever stop doing that? Back then, prisoners didn't cost society too much, and they earned their keep by repaying their debt via free labor. Good system. Nowadays, we give them internet access, online career training, full gym facilities (so that they can get bigger and stronger and be more effective when they get out and reoffend) along with many other amenities that end up costing the gov't and all of us HUGE amounts of money. My proposal is to reinstate the prison work system, where prisoners do hard labor during the day, then at night we can give them career training, computer skills, quilting lessons, etc. I also propose that if we did this, prison rape would decrease b/c the men would be too darn tired to care about raping another guy in the shower. Any free time of prisoners (no pun intended) should be spent, eating, sleeping, and washing. That's about it. As Mr. Bluth on Arrested Development has found out, prison can be the best vacation ever. Thoughts on the prison system anyone?
That's all for now. Be on the lookout for a great new design to Sociological Imagination thanks to my own personal, secret web designer who is hard at work making a sight worthy of sociological thoughts!
18 comments:
About prison. I believe that the Bible has great solutions to crime: Capital Punishment for one, and the other a City of Refuge.
If a person is found guilty the appeal process should be eliminated and death row should be for final good-byes and final confession of sins. Then death by lethal injection.
In this case our prisons would not be as crowded and our court dockets would not be over loaded. This system would abolish life sentences whereby the criminal gets all the "perks" listed in the blog.
Of course, the above would be reserved for crimes against humanity, murder, sexual sins including rape, molestation, etc.
Some may say that a lot of innocent people will be put to death, but that may be one necessary pitfall to the system aforementioned. Once again, if the guilt was pronounced unanimously by a jury of peers, then the swift sentence would put the crime to rest and justice would be served in the interest of society, both personally and economically.
Lets save the "chain gangs" for blue collar criminals, and felonies not involving capital offenses. OK?
The City of Refuge would be designed like "Escape From New York" or Devils Island. Let the criminals have a "society" of their own where only the strongest survive.
i like the deliberately inefficient government we have.
inefficient? yes. by design? also yes.
i'd rather spend a few more dollars housing prisoners for a couple extra years than live in a society with "necessary pitfalls."
This is for gm. "...a lot of innocent people will be put to death, but that may be one necessary pitfall..." Dude! That is cold! Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out!
Context is everything. I did not say "that a lot of innocent people would be put to death," what I did say was that "SOME MAY SAY that a lot of innocent people..."
Here is the logic behind all of this: since the criminal would be judged guilty by a jury of his/her peers, and since there would be no appeal process, and since the sentence will be carried out swiftly, hence, no one would ever know if an innocent person was put to death. Because of this method of criminal justice, crime would be deterred and taxpayer money would be spent wisely and with little waste, and put to a better use than housing criminals.
By the way, does anyone know the actual percentage of innocent people who are in prison?
"No one would ever know if an innocent person was put to death."
That's comforting.
Like if I decided to hit the streets and skin and gut a homeless woman because "no one would ever know if an innocent person was put to death" kind of comforting.
GM, to answer your question: a lot. Of people who have been convicted of capital crimes (i.e. scheduled for execution or already executed by their respective state), 119 have been exonerated post-conviction since the 1973 reinstatement of the death penalty. That means that if there weren't any appellate process, 119 people would have been executed in the last 32 years - most of whom were poor, black, and woefully underrepresented by court-appointed lawyers – by the unanimous consent of a jury of peers and the authority of their respective state. Americans, especially Republicans who fear the unchecked power of the state, should start thinking long and hard about giving that state the ultimate power – the one to declare a person’s life forfeit – especially when the determination process is so catastrophically flawed. For more information, see the following:
www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412&scid=6
www.innocenceproject.org/
gm, I thought you meant that some innocent people being put to death was your "necessary pitfall." Maybe you meant that some people SAYING innocent people would be put to to death was the necessary pitfall. I hope so. But your comment "no one would ever know if an innocent person was put to death" kind of makes me doubt it. Me, I think the cost of housing some guilty people is more than offset by saving the lives of the 119 innocent people. Money or life? Count me in on the side of life.
No, it wouldn't be very comformting. If you did skin and gut a homeless person, you would be lethally injected without hope of appeal. And this is what happens in our criminal justice system. Hypothetically if someone did do the above, they would be given what amounts to a slap on the wrist and 3 consecutive life sentences.
All comments aside, we have to stop housing criminals who have no hope of rehabilitation. It is a fact that sexual predators will never be rehabilitated. That means that if a sexual predator murders a person during commission of the crime, he/she will never have a chance at being "normal" and so we lock them up, giving free room and board. I must say that this is a very flawed way to take care of crime. Now that I think of it, it is rather coward-like. What I mean is that people are afraid to make a hard decision. The good of the populace will be served by capital punishment, but no one has the guts to make the decision. And pacifist keep on saying that hardened criminals should not be put to death, but for some reason they are not pacifist toward the victim. Oh well, so what for the victim. The criminal has feelings too! Let's not hurt the criminals feelings or dignity.
"It is a fact that sexual predators will never be rehabilitated."
Careful with the absolutes ...
"for some reason they are not pacifist toward the victim"--no one wants criminals killing people. The question is whether we want the state killing people.
"we have to stop housing criminals who have no hope of rehabilitation"--who says?
The rate of violent crime in this country has been falling for a decade. Maybe the system isn't so bad. It's fallen in states without capital punishment. Are you going to say that the criminals in those states got scared just thinking about Texas, even though they didn't live there?
I am still not sure I follow on this: How exactly do we come to the point where we think “it is rather coward-like” to a) limit the power of the state such that we remove its right to take life and b) intentionally design a system that has, in the last 32 years, prevented the execution of 119 innocent people? I just can’t see it as an American, as a Christian, or as an ethical thinker. Regardless, I think gm and I are disagreeing at a very fundamental level: gm is arguing that this is “a hard decision” that should, nonetheless, be made because it produces the right kind of results; I am arguing that this is an impossible decision that no one or group of individuals has the authority to make, regardless of the ends it may produce. I think that if Americans were more concerned about ethical and responsible means and less concerned about suitable ends, we would be in a much better situation as a nation.
J. Morgan,
I agree that this is an impossible decision, especially with our form of government.
I am not sure of where this blogger audience is biblically, however, a careful reading of the Pentateuch will reveal that the Almighty has a solution to this. Countless times in Deuteronomy the prescription is given for violent criminals. The result is "to remove this wickedness from the land I am giving you." And the penalty was carried out by stoning to death. I am sure that the Master Plan will work, but we as a democratic, secular government, will never carry it out. Jesus said in the New Testatment that "because wickedness will abound, the love of many will grow cold." Not a pretty picture when people stop caring for each other, and this is because wickedness will abound which gives birth to fear of getting involved in another persons woes.
Bringing me full circle. Wickedness abounds because we do not have a system to control or deter it.
However, it is pointless to continue in this vain. We in this Blog will never (absolute) correct the iniquities in our society.
Anybody see any good movies lately?
Biblically, gm? As far as the Pentateuch goes, one doesn't see too many Hasidim agitating for anyone to be stoned. And Jesus also said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."
But you're correct, neither the Pentateuch nor Jesus can be the law of the land, per se. You're right about ending this thread.
But let me ask you something, since we're anonymous to each other: Did you have a family member who was a violent crime victim, and the perpetrator went unpunished, or, perhaps someone who should have been in jail committed a horrible crime against someone you knew?
If that's the case, I'm very sorry for your loss and pain, and I understand where you're coming from. Your posts have been harsh. If anyone is even ACCUSED of a violent crime, you have no concern for them. Fair enough. I think your way is a judically sanctioned blood bath, but maybe you have your reasons.
Meant to type "judicially" in that last sentence.
Hey anonymous,
No such thing happened in my life. I am not totally merciless, but I believe that when a violent criminal has shown no mercy to the victim, society should not be so merciful to the criminal. I have visions of our present overcrowded system building more prisons to house more criminals and on and on and on. I firmly believe in capital punishment, especially since so much in known about how our prison system does little to rehab the criminal, and may even make them worse. I know it is harsh, but I still think that it is the correct method to our penal code. (This is my last post on this subject.)
Pax vobiscum, gm.
I'd like to thank you all for your comments. This has been the most active post for me yet! I hope that the debate was carried out without any hard feelings or bitterness. As gm so eloquently stated, we will never be able to sort out all of the problems of our society. But, debate is welcome nonetheless.
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