Comments on The General Blog of Crime: Confessions of a Closeted Retributionist

I must be in the minority. yes, I am incredibly s...

2007-09-27T11:55:00.000-04:00

I must be in the minority. yes, I am incredibly shocked that a federal prosecutor would be involved in such henious behavior. As if sex with minors isn't bad enough, with a 5 year old being sold by her mother - wow, it doesn't get much worse than than.

I think the idea I raised is actually much more common than you might think. Listen, I won't suggest there isn't a lot of contradiction on the right, etc. Seriously, I get that. But its the left that has more so than not pushed for mandatory arrest polices for alledged DV perps and hate crime. These are harsh punishments have been largely accepted (I get the DV thing, but not many people seroiusly questioned it before replication studies came out). Let me tell you, if I took a firm stand against hate crime legislation here, I would be considered a trouble maker - a right winger who wants minorities or gays to be victims of crime. The ironies I perceived go so much deeper on political issues. Not that I want to raise the abortion issue, but let me give you one solid example that I personally experienced. We interviewed (and hired) someone that did sucha great job talk on making sure that communication between parents and children should be considered legally protected conversation (eg. doctors, lawyers, etc). In case folks don't know (I didn't even think about it), parents communication with juvenile suspects isn't. So, my colleagues are dismayed (rightfully so) - and I listened to all of the rhetoric about protecting the most innocent among us, how could we let children be treated like this, etc. Yet most of them would probably support late term abortion (where we partially remove a BABY from a mother, use pliars to open up the BABY's skull, and suck out the BABY's brain). I can't wrap my mind around how you can reconcile these two often co-occurring perspectives. Is there anyone more vulnerable?

Ok, I said I would avoid the deeper discussions. Anyone have any good jokes about porn?

That's an interesting point, Scoob. In other word...

2007-09-27T09:12:00.000-04:00

That's an interesting point, Scoob. In other words, if the crime is reprehensible enough, folks who typically oppose particularly harsh sanctions (or who favor treatment-based alternatives, for example) are quick to suggest that we "hang 'em high"? I never thought about that before. Although certainly my post would seem to offer evidence in support of your theory! LOL!

P.S. I hope that my post did not communicate a sense of surprise at this story. Appalling? Yes....but surprising? Absolutely not. I don't think any of us who study crime for a living very often find ourselves genuinely shocked by the depths of human depravity. Though I will admit to being mildly surprised that OJ was dumb enough to get his ass arrested for armed robbery...

Ok now on a serious front. Holy Crap! Unreal. T...

2007-09-27T08:39:00.000-04:00

Ok now on a serious front. Holy Crap! Unreal. This is the most incredible thing I have ever read in my life. How the f' does something like this happen!

I also think there is another layer of seriousness to your post. I think there are many in the looney left camp wit this closeted retributionist attitudes. There is an assumption that the garden variety criminals are nearly always victims of life circumstances and thus, to some degree, less culpable. Yet something that appears to be a shock to their personal conscience should be dealt with in the harshest ways - Hate Crime legislation is such an excellent example of this.

For the record, this is one radical righty against the death penalty. Yep, even for the Counselor.

Thank you for finally putting "Progressive" and "l...

2007-09-27T08:20:00.000-04:00

Thank you for finally putting "Progressive" and "looney leftie" together. It is nice to have people finally speak the truth. Hugs and Kisses, me.