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JohnSchwabFirstPaper 12 - 12 Jul 2010 - Main.JohnSchwab
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< | re-write in progress | | | THINKING ABOUT THE CRIMINAL LAW
If Holmes was correct and the law is what it does, then the criminal law is a force that imprisons young, poor, male minorities in enormous numbers, that takes husbands from wives and fathers from children, that robs communities of vast swathes of their young people, that diverts massive sums of money from pressing social needs such as education, that murders men in the name of justice and that incarcerates the innocent along with the guilty. | | | Today, the law's supporters say it wasn't supposed to prevent child sexual abuse, it was only intended to give parents better information. In other words, peace of mind. In New Jersey, that peace of mind cost four million dollars annually as of 2007. Would the Jersey state legislature have passed a law if it had been presented as one that would cost millions of dollars to make parents feel their children were safer while not actually improving children's safety? Maybe, maybe not. But by not framing the question on its true terms, the legislature avoided, as we all do, actually examining what end they were wielding the criminal law to achieve.
Conclusion | |
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> | There are no easy answers for the problems that plague our criminal justice systems. There are plenty of answers that are easy to propose, but none that are easy to implement. Before any substantive change can occur, we as a society need to face what exactly the criminal justice system is and what it really does. We need to accept that many aspects of the criminal justice system do not make us safer. We need to believe that the criminal justice is a massive waste of resources that could be better spent elsewhere. We need to understand that the real problem isn't with the men and women behind bars, it is with us. | | | | |
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> | -- By JohnSchwab - 21 Feb 2010 | | | | |
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< | -- By JohnSchwab - 21 Feb 2010 | >
> | NOTES:
I have really struggled with making this essay work as a whole. In every form I have tried it, I think there are some interesting ideas, but it fails to fully coalesce. I think my problem is that I'm unable to hone in on a distinct, specific subject and address that to the exclusion of all else. Perhaps a broad discussion of criminal justice is simply impossible in an abbreviated format. Or, more likely, I simply haven't yet found the right angle. I will keep looking. | | | |
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