CAD - Chap 5 Note: CJ and Crim usually don’t go here - history, sociology, broader social policy
CAD - Chap 5 Three levels of US crime problem: Drug problem & drug war(more recent) Poverty/inequality (since WW2) Amer dream values/instis (long term)
CAD - Chap 5 Last huge crime prob in the US (1920s) resulted partly from another “drug war" – prohibition. But prohibition was not the only prob in the 1920s: corp crime & public corruption were rampant + urbanization & first blossoming of Amer dream following WW 1. All of this ended abruptly with onset of Depression (and was mostly forgotten!)
CAD - Chap 5 Drug war was/is superimposed over, and masks, two more fundamental problems poverty & inequality our basic values & instis
CAD - Chap 5 Basic policy responses are politically biased & unrealistic - what one criminologist calls “theologies” both liberal & conservative policies!
CAD - Chap 5 Conservative “get tough” policies see the problem as a culture "soft on crime" Increase police “crack down” Less plea bargaining to lesser charges Mandatory sentencing Get tough should lead to deter & incap
CAD - Chap 5 Put into effect by Repubs (Reagan, Bush) continued by Clinton – because popular conservative Supreme Court justices cons federal judges state & federal legislative agendas
CAD - Chap 5 Result as crime policy -- total failure No impact on serious crime! + Other results disastrous!
CAD - Chap 5 Filling up prisons with petty offenders at huge cost - money costs -- billions (note: dp also an expensive disaster) justice -- poor & racism petty crime
CAD - Chap 5 Strong argument that imprisonment binge leads to increased crime poor single parent families children of incarcerated parents violence when they get out
CAD - Chap 5 Conservative response to failure? increase the war on crime! “get tougher”
CAD - Chap 5 Liberal policies social reform Rehab & training for “criminals” (don’t work) only for those who are “ready” Decrease poverty & inequality (hard to do) should be done, but minor impact on crime
CAD - Chap 5 Note: globalization worsening problems! top half prosperous bottom half becoming poorer
CAD - Chap 5 Crime reduction Change our culture - hyper-individualism vs. social responsibility Our indiv behavior mirrors our social behavior Short term, no attention to consequences vs. long term, responsible
CAD - Chap 5 Binge mirrors crime (dumb & impractical) Death Penalty mirrors homicides (irrational) Abortion/sex education as classic example! stop teen sex vs. stop teen pregnancy (US) (Europe)
CAD - Chap 5 Restructure our institutions Most important -- families & schools (also major political battlegrounds) Families/schools incr being reduced to econ support instis - “choice” is cultural underpinning for this But these instis lose social control function!
CAD - Chap 5 Family policies (discussed in book) cheaper in short run to treat symptoms cheaper in long run to prevent problems. Schools: detach from economic fate, focus on formal learning
CAD - Chap 5 The polity End war on crime/drugs) - focus on prevention Bottom page great majority of those in prison violent, past violent, repeat felony (not true, barely true in late 1980s, and prison pops have doubled since then)
CAD - Chap 5 National service for young people Police corps, Ameri-core, etc. Now small underfunded programs. Social bonds -- attach poor ym’s to something - not enough jobs, school
CAD - Chap 5 The economy Redistribution is only answer Like European mixed economies Higher taxes for rich are major obstacle
CAD - Chap 5 Note: Hardly a word about corporate crime! Major contributor to problems
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