Posted by Scott on November 4th, 2009 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
I created this blog several years ago to do my part in reducing the amount of violent victimization in society, such as murder, rape, battery and so forth. Unfortunately, sometimes murder is committed by the governments that we want to protect us.
I remember the story of a teenage girl who was stoned to death by authorities for adultery in Somalia when she chose to report an alleged rape. Some other countries consider themselves more civilized for only choosing to provide the death penalty to murderers.
Of course, I want to use as much defensive force as necessary to protect people. If the only way to stop a murderer is with lethal defensive force, then I’m all for it.
But when we have already protected the innocent by incarcerating the offender, is it worth committing murder as punishment–even for murder? Let’s look at some facts about the death penalty provided by Amnesty International USA:
The death penalty defies international human rights standards. Over two-thirds of the countries in the world – 139 – have now abolished the death penalty in law or practice. In 2008, 93% of all known executions took place in five countries - China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA.
The death penalty is racially biased. Since 1977, the overwhelming majority of death row defendants (80%) have been executed for killing white victims, even though African-Americans make up about half of all homicide victims.
The death penalty claims innocent lives. Since 1973, 135 people have been released from death rows throughout the country due to evidence of their wrongful conviction. In this same time period, more than 1,000 people have been executed.
The death penalty is not a deterrent. A September 2000 New York Times survey found that during the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48 to 101% higher than the rate in states without the death penalty.
The death penalty costs more and diverts resources from genuine crime control. The greatest costs associated with the death penalty occur prior to and during trial, not in post-conviction proceedings. Even if all post-conviction proceedings (appeals) were abolished, the death penalty would still be more expensive than alternative sentences.
The death penalty disregards mental illness. The execution of those with mental illness or “the insane” is clearly prohibited by international law. In the USA, Constitutional protections for those with other forms of mental illness are minimal, however, and dozens of prisoners have been executed despite suffering from serious mental illness.
The death penalty is arbitrary and unfair. 95% of death row inmates cannot afford their own attorney. Local politics, the location of the crime, plea bargaining, and pure chance affect the process and make it a lottery of who lives and dies. Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 80% of all executions have taken place in the South (37% in Texas alone).
These facts show us many of the drawbacks of the death penalty. But I think we all know that murder has drawbacks. Despite it’s drawbacks, I think people support it because they want revenge. I have posted many times about the foolishness of vengeance. In the case of the death penalty, supporters need to reconsider whether the pleasure they feel from hurting another person as revenge is worth the drawbacks and risks of committing murder. Personally, I want the focus of law enforcement and the criminal justice system to solely be to protect people from violent victimization such as murder, rape, battery, assault, muggings and so forth. I do not want the justice system diverted towards the sadistic goal of getting revenge.
What do you think? Would you ever support murder? Do you know any other interesting facts about the death penalty?
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on October 28th, 2009 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
Just like with the historical prohibition of alcohol and the ongoing prohibition of drugs, I think prohibition of prostitution not only fails to prevent or reduce the occurrence of prostitution but greatly exacerbates the problems associated with it.
Nationwide, the war on prostitution costs taxpayers billions of dollars annually. I’m not sure of the accuracy of the next figure, but I’ve read that the city of Los Angeles alone spends close to 100 million dollars annually dealing with illegal prostitution. These larges sums of money could have gone towards actually protecting people from violent crime and victimization.
Also, the prohibition of prostitution increases sex slavery. The United States State Department estimates that 50,000 to 100,000 women and girls are trafficked each year in the United States. While prohibition has not prevented prostitution from occurring, it has sent the customers to buy sex services from violent criminal organizations and violent thugs who often prefer to get rich enslaving young women rather than paying willing employees. Just like with the prohibition of drugs, prohibition of prostitution means we have taken this multi-billion dollar industry away from law-abiding citizens and handed it over to violent criminal thugs who can now get rich enslaving women. In a country like the United States, I doubt the vast majority of customers would choose to buy sex services from violent criminal thugs if prostitution were legal and they could buy it from a legitimate, regulated companies. Frankly, when regulated, consensual prostitution is illegal, unregulated non-consensual prostitution is drastically increased.
Finally, today I came across an article from 1993 by Paul Armentano entitled, The Case for Prostitution. The article pointed out another major danger of the war on prostitution. And that’s AIDS. Armentano writes, “Ironically perhaps, the rising threat of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases has become one of the most compelling arguments for the complete legalization of prostitution. According to current evidence, roughly half of the street prostitutes in Washington, D.C., and New York City are HIV-positive. In Newark, New Jersey, the estimate is that close to 60% of all prostitutes carry the AIDS virus. Yet, in the relatively “free market” of Nevada, where prostitution is legal, not one (as of 1989) of the state-licensed prostitutes has ever tested positive for AIDS.”
Simply put, prostitutes, the buyers of prostitution and society as whole would all be much safer if we ended the expensive, futile war on prostitution. Let’s prevent violence and protect people by legalizing, regulating and taxing prostitution.
What do you think? Please post a comment below. You can also discuss the idea of legalizing prostitution in this thread at the Philosophy Forums.
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on October 12th, 2009 — Posted in Police Misconduct
Almost everyone wants to reduce the presence of murder, rape, assault and other violent aggression in our society. Indeed, protecting people from offensive violence is the point of this blog. Unfortunately, I just saw a disturbing video that reminds us that many times the ones from whom we need protection are the same police officers we are told are protecting us. In the video, a cop named Christopher Lloyd brutally assaults a 15-year-old special needs student because the student didn’t have his shirt tucked in:
It would be very nice if the students of a school like that had someone there to protect them from offensive violence such as murder, rape and assault. But the police officer they had was the violent attacker from whom they needed protection.
Luckily, it was caught on video. I shudder to think of how many other times a cop has brutally attacked a teenager and gotten away with it because it was not caught on video. If a young black male says a cop unjustifiably beat him, but the honored, respected officer makes up some story about the teen doing some sort of dangerous activity that gave the cop reasonable cause, do you think the young man would be believed? Do you you think the cop would get in trouble? I don’t.
But since it was caught on film this time, the cop was fired. Also, news sources later revealed that this wasn’t a one-time slip-up by an otherwise helpful person. This criminal has a history of violence. This fired cop is currently in jail on rape charges, which if convicted could give him a 20-year sentence. He has also been accused by his ex-wife of murdering a man he shot 24 times, but the Chicago police accepted his explanation that the killing was in self-defense–even though he shot the man 24 times! Too bad there wasn’t a video of that.
What do you think?
Related posts:
No Comments »
Posted by Scott on September 4th, 2009 — Posted in Violence Prevention
I created this blog to inspire us all to exercise compassion in an effort to reduce and hopefully eliminate offensive violence and protect ourselves and others. We want to stop offensive violence such as murder, rape, assault, battery and kidnapping. I have pointed out before that the desire for revenge causes many of those acts of violence. People literally beat and sometimes murder each other as revenge; not in defense but rather for revenge.
I think if we can remember to forgive it can help us avoid revengeful violence. For instance, if we forgive the violent criminal we can determine the most effective and efficient way to deal with him to protect the rest of us without having our judgment clouded and our decisions perverted by a dangerous, destructive desire for revenge. We can forgive a murderer, and still incarcerate the murderer out of compassion rather than revenge. If we forgive and refuse to seek revenge, our desire to protect people and prevent violence will not have to compete with a desire for revenge.
So in this post I have decided to provide a handful of quotes that I like about forgiveness:
“Many people are afraid to forgive because they feel they must remember the wrong or they will not learn from it. The opposite is true. Through forgiveness, the wrong is released from its emotional stranglehold on us so that we can learn from it. Through the power and intelligence of the heart, the release of forgiveness brings expanded intelligence to work with the situation more effectively.”
~ David McArthur & Bruce McArthur
“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
~ Lewis B. Smedes
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.”
~ Thomas S. Szasz
“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.”
~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“”Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.”
~ Jesus
“Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.”
~ Edwin Hubbell Chapin
“A more glorious victory cannot be gained over another man than this, that when the injury began on his part, the kindness should begin on ours.”
~ Tillotson
“Take forgiveness. Two levels here. One level: forgiveness means you shouldn’t develop feelings of revenge. Because revenge harms the other person, therefore it is a form of violence. With violence, there is usually counterviolence. This generates even more violence—the problem never goes away. So that is one level. Another level: forgiveness means you should try not to develop feelings of anger toward your enemy. Anger doesn’t solve the problem. Anger only brings uncomfortable feelings to yourself. Anger destroys your own peace of mind. Your happy mood never comes, not while anger remains. I think that’s the main reason why we should forgive. With calm mind, more peaceful mind, more healthy body. An agitated mind spoils our health, very harmful for body. This is my feeling.”
~ The Dalai Lama
“Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.”
~ Oscar Wilde
“We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies.”
~ Voltaire
“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.”
~ Cherie Carter-Scott
“Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”
~ Abraham Lincoln
“To err is human; to forgive, divine.”
~ Alexander Pope
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
~ Buddha
“Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
What do you think? Please also post any other quotes about forgiveness that you like!
4 Comments »
Posted by Scott on July 28th, 2009 — Posted in Self-Defense Advice
I updated the homepage of this website to include links to and information about the following self-defense and violence prevention products that you can buy now:
The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker
“teaches how to identify the warning signals of a potential attacker and recommends strategies for dealing with the problem before it becomes life threatening. The case studies are gripping and suspenseful, and include tactics for dealing with similar situations. People don’t just ’snap’ and become violent, says de Becker, whose clients include federal government agencies, celebrities, police departments, and shelters for battered women. ‘There is a process as observable, and often as predictable, as water coming to a boil.’ Learning to predict violence is the cornerstone to preventing it. De Becker is a master of the psychology of violence, and his advice may save your life.” -Joan Price
Child Guard Panda: Have you ever experienced the terror of thinking your child is missing or lost? We have all had the gut-wrenching feeling of turning around in a busy street and finding that our child is no where in sight. Now this could be prevented with the new and improved Child Guard Panda. Worn by the child, the cartoon animal-shaped transmitter sends a constant signal to the receiver, which is held by the adult. The signal is adjustable - from a distance of 3 to 21 feet, so when the child goes beyond the set distance, the adult’s receiver starts to beep, letting them know that the child is starting to wander off. The Child Guard is worn on the child’s wrist.
2 Comments »
Posted by Scott on June 13th, 2009 — Posted in Police Misconduct
I recently watched Changeling
, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood starring Angelina Jolie. Based on actual events, it tells the story of a mother reunited with her missing son only to find out the boy is an impostor. Instead of helping the mother, the corrupt city authorities refuse to admit their mistake, choosing to call the mother a crazy liar. I liked this movie very much, and I recommend it.
I think the movie does a great job at showing the way power corrupts. It shows the terrible way the political and social institutions that are supposedly meant to help protect the people end up actually causing more harm. I think it also shows the way these powerful people and institutions would rather commit even more corrupt, abusive, harmful acts to cover up their previous wrongdoings and escape accountability than admit to wrongdoing, corruption or abuse.
The movie demonstrates that type of corruption not only in law enforcement but also in medical wards.
What do you think? Have you seen the movie?
2 Comments »
Posted by Scott on March 26th, 2009 — Posted in Politics & Commentary
A gentleman contacted me from Article 19 Films, who produce socially responsible documentary features. He told me about a documentary called Lockdown, USA
that they recently released. It chronicles Hip-Hop impresario Russell Simmons’ campaign to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the controversial New York State laws created in 1973, which became the foundation to the War on Drugs in the United States. Here is the trailer from YouTube (contains explicit language):
I like that trailer. Please consider ordering Lockdown, USA. The movie not only interests those already familiar with the flaws of the war on drugs, but the movie also informs those not as familiar and inspires people to get more involved in the campaign for reform.
I have often posted about the war on drugs on this blog because of the way that drug prohibition increases violent crime and hinders our ability to fight violent crime and victimization–similar to alcohol prohibition. Take a look at these posts:
What do you think? Please post comments!
17 Comments »
Posted by Scott on June 19th, 2008 — Posted in Recidivism
In my previous post entitled, Recidivism and the Prison Industry (Part 1), I explained that the prison industry does not effectively rehabilitate offenders because doing so is not in their financial interests. The prison industry profits from the expensive wastefulness and ineffectiveness of the prison system. As I said about rehabilitating offenders in the last post, the problem is not that the prison industry does not know how to do it; the problem is that they do not want to do it. In today’s post, I will explain how we can get the prison industry and the politicians to actually rehabilitate offenders.
It all comes down to money. We have to make it profitable for them to actually rehabilitate offenders and lower violent crime rates. And we have to make it unprofitable for them to keep wasting our resources.
To that end, we need to create a system of strict financial accountability.
When a prison releases someone who goes on to commit a new crime, I suggest we hold the prison financially responsible by making them pay for the damages caused by the crime or by making the prison pay a penalty fine of some sort.
I suggest prisons do not receive funding based on how many inmates they have each year because that can leave it profitable for the prison to keep inmates too long. Instead, I suggest prisons receive a certain amount of total funding for each inmate no matter how long they keep the inmate so that it is in the prison’s interest to rehabilitate and release that inmate as quickly and efficiently as possible.
To help ensure that inmates are not released until they have been rehabilitated and are safe to be released, I suggest that professionals must be put in charge of reviewing inmates and approving or rejecting each inmate for release. Then if a released convict commits another crime, a single person can be held accountable for releasing the dangerous, non-rehabilitated inmate. The especially helpful advantage is that we can fire reviewers who have approved the release of a relatively high percentage of inmates who re-offend. So we can find reviewers who are able to predict more accurately whether someone will re-offend and thus drastically lower the recidivism rate.
Finally, we need to ensure that effective incarceration and rehabilitation systems receive a lot of funding if they work correctly. The funding provides the financial incentive for the industry to actually rehabilitate offenders. And the funding also provides the ability to afford to rehabilitate offenders. For more about providing the funds, check out my post entitled Funding Security.
What do you think? How do you suggest we make it in the financial interests of the prison industry to actually do their job, rehabilitate offenders and lower recidivism rates?
22 Comments »
Posted by Scott on April 28th, 2008 — Posted in Recidivism
In regards to criminal behavior, recidivism refers to criminals re-offending after release from prison. In the United States, the recidivism rate is approximately 60%, which means that more than half of people released from prison commit another known crime.
An incarceration system could find many effective ways to significantly reduce the recidivism rate. And I assume doing it would save a lot of money because it would reduce so much crime, much of which is committed by previously convicted offenders.
Unfortunately, I do not think it is in the interests of the prison industry to reduce recidivism and prevent crime. The prison-industrial complex makes money by building prisons and stuffing them full of people. They make money with high crime rates. For example, you may wonder why the prison system wastes so much of taxpayers’ money barbarically throwing non-violent drug offenders in overcrowded prisons while releasing non-rehabilitated violent offenders who then commit more violent crime such as rape, murder and battery. The prison industry does that because they make more money that way. The prison industry makes money by getting people put in prison who do not belong there. They make money by not lowering violent crime rates such as when they fail to rehabilitate violent offenders before release.
Industrial-complexes cause the government to spend taxpayers’ money in ways that are wasteful, inefficient and ineffective for the taxpayers but profitable for the industries, politicians and bureaucrats that receive the money.
We can talk all day about how the politicians and the prison industry could reduce recidivism and violent crime. But the problem is not that they do not know how to do it. The problem is that they do not want to do it.
In the interest of keeping this blog post from getting too long, I will make my next post about how I think we can solve the problem and get the prison industry to actually rehabilitate offenders and reduce recidivism and violent crime.
3 Comments »
Posted by Scott on April 27th, 2008 — Posted in Crime Prevention
I made a blog post back in March about the fact that education prevents violent crime and victimization. Today, I read a research brief about education as crime prevention from the OSI. Here are some excerpts:
“[R]esearch shows that quality education is one of the most effective forms of crime prevention. Educational skills can help deter young people from committing criminal acts and can greatly decrease the likelihood that people will return to crime after release from prison.”
“There is a strong link between low levels of education and high rates of criminal activity…”
“According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, there is an inverse relationship between recidivism rates and education. The more education received, the less likely an individual is to be re-arrested or re-imprisoned.”
“The RAND Corporation, a public policy think tank based in California, recently released a study showing that crime prevention is more costeffective than building prisons. Of all crime prevention methods, education is the most costeffective.”
The fact that providing education to people causes them to commit less violent crime and victimization seems both obvious and common-sense to me. But I still like to consult the research.
What do you think?
11 Comments »
Posted by Scott on April 25th, 2008 — Posted in Violence Prevention
I think a lot of violent conflicts happen as a result of pseudo-toughness. That is especially the case in regards to fights between young people and poor or blue-collar people. People trying to be tough will start and get into fights and violent conflicts. For example, I assume most bar brawls and schoolyard fights happen because the people involved want to be or seem tough. In their desperate attempt at toughness, they attack others when they would be better off minding their own business, and they fight when it would be wiser to walk away. To explore the issue more fully, I have written and posted an article about destructive pseudo-toughness at my philosophy forums. Check it out: Causes of Self-Destructive Attempts at Toughness
Of course, not all violence and victimization is caused by people try to be tough. I think the other main cause is the desire for financial profit. For example, I assume the desire for profit is the foremost motivation of robbery and corporate crime.
What do you think?
7 Comments »
Posted by Scott on April 24th, 2008 — Posted in Bullies
I just read some interesting but unfortunate news. A recent study of 210 college students found that bullying in grade school appears to increase the chances that the victim will suffer from depression or social anxiety later in life. That includes the often overlooked social bullying, which refers to non-physical forms of bullying, such as gossiping, spreading rumors and verbal attacks.
School administrators have a lot of trouble trying to stop social bullying because it happens more secretly and does not leave as blatant of evidence as physical bullying.
Perhaps parents and schools could provide prevention programs such as having sensitivity programs and teaching students about the damage that bullying causes.
Also, I bet providing high-quality psychological care to all students could help. It would help victims deal with bullying and avoid depression and anxiety. It would help bullies overcome their psychological problems that cause them to bully.
Although it’s mostly a light-hearted teen comedy, I think the movie Mean Girls
does a good job exploring the social bullying so common among schoolgirls.
What do you think?
6 Comments »
