Lawmakers and judges toss years, even decades, around as though the sentences were Frisbees floating on a leisurely summer breeze. – Norm Pattis
“California Gov. Jerry Brown has decided…not to [deny]…parole to Sara Kruzan…[who] was 17 when she was sentenced to die in prison for the 1994 shooting death of George Gilbert Howard…[who had] sexually abused her and…groomed her since she was 11 to work for him as a child prostitute…” Long-time readers may remember that prohibitionists have never spoken as much as a word in Kruzan’s behalf, despite their supposed wish to “rescue children” from “pimps”.
When will amateurs learn that the War on Whores affects them as well?
[A judge ruled] New York City can be sued for false arrest and malicious prosecution…[for] targeting and entrapping gay men at video stores…[Robert] Pinter and an undercover officer agreed to leave a video store and have sex in a nearby car. On the way out the door, the undercover allegedly added he would perform a sex act for $50. Pinter…remained silent but continued walking with the undercover until he was arrested…for prostitution.
…police opened fire on [David Blair] as he stood in his doorway…after he rebuffed their interrogation efforts during an operation to apprehend call girls and johns…After nearly being shot to death, Blair was arrested for aggravated assault on a police officer…[but] released after several hours…“I guess I wasn’t supposed to tell them to get the light out of my face,” Blair said…
That’s the first time I’ve ever heard streetwalkers referred to as “call girls”.
The only thing “sordid” and “seedy” about this is the way cops and the media collaborate to destroy lives, and the only “notable name” is that of Brian Bates, the soi-disant “Video Vigilante”, who is bizarrely referred to as an “anti-prostitution advocate” because the reporter is too ignorant to use the word “advocate” properly.
…AT&T…[is introducing] a…GPS-tracking…watch-like thingie…called FiLIP…[which alerts] when your child enters or leaves a designated area…[the ad says] “FiLIP…[helps] kids be kids again”…Right. And the Invisible Fence collar…let my dog be a dog…I can get an iPhone Spy Stick, to be plugged into a USB port while he sleeps…or…Mobile Spy, software that would let me follow…his online activity and geographical location…[or] an innocent-looking iPhone Dock Camera that…surreptitiously [records audio and] video in his room…[In ZDNet’s survey of] parental espionage…82 percent…agreed…that …“It is a parent’s right to ‘violate’ their child’s notion of ‘privacy’”…
…Christina Hoff Sommers…explains that the study often cited as the origin of the “one in five” factoid is an online survey…[which] employed such a broad definition that…”attempted forced kissing” qualified as sexual assault. The Bureau of Justice Statistics…tells a different and more plausible story…During…1995-2002…there were six rapes or sexual assaults per thousand per year…about one victim in forty students. Other DOJ statistics show that the overall rape rate…since 1995…has decreased by about 60 percent…
Clark Bianco pointed out this example of the state punishing citizens for following its lead: “a [Connecticut] couple faces charges after a 9-year-old girl in their care was punished with an electric shock collar used to discipline barking dogs”, but “a [South Dakota] police chief…is defending an officer’s [tasing] an 8-year-old girl…”
“San Diego police say criminal charges will be filed in a sexting ring involving dozens of students…there’s no hacking or coercion…The girls sent out the naked pics themselves…”
A U.S. Marine has been referred for trial by court-martial…on charges of killing a visiting Las Vegas prostitute who was last seen alive outside a bar in…Waikiki…Master Sergeant Nathaniel Cosby is charged…in the death of 29-year-old Ivanice “Ivy” Harris…
Thanks very much to Celos for sending me Messiah of Evil, which was our Halloween night movie this year!
His motive is obvious, but this is still freakish:
…authorities and human trafficking experts believe dozens of girls and boys are being brought to St. Louis to be offered for sale during the World Series…Michael Ocello owns several [strip] clubs and founded…Club Operators Against Sex Trafficking [COAST]. He has the backing of ICE and Homeland security…[and] has earned credibility with law enforcement…Ocello printed 10,000 baseball cards that will be handed out by his employees this weekend…the back details signs of human trafficking and a number to call…
Only Rights Can Stop the Wrongs
“Trafficking” as an excuse for surveillance again: “…a button inside a police car…[releases] a [GPS tracker bug] that shoots out and sticks to the car in front…They can track and pinpoint [the target] vehicle…‘This is an important tactic for the police…rescuing little girls from human trafficking’…”
Business as usual in a police state:
…Diana Hardy…and her boyfriend, Mark McKoy, were…pulled over by [New York State] Trooper Robert Baird, who claimed that they were speeding and that the car was reported stolen…After two “sexualized” pat downs, Baird…illegally searched the…van…and…found personal lubricant, a sex toy, condoms and a half-full package of balloons from a child’s birthday party, and immediately accused Hardy of hiding drugs in a body cavity…“He seemed to become enraged and handcuffed [her], demanding to know why she ‘needed lube,’ crudely asking if McKoy was ‘really that big’ and stating that he had a ‘gut feeling’ [she] was smuggling drugs inside her body”…She was hauled to the barracks, shackled to a wall and strip-searched three times…[then] wept through a body-cavity search, but even though a doctor also failed to find proof, [Baird]…demanded an X-ray…[which] showed [she] had no contraband in her body…The couple were finally released after they paid to have their van towed to the police barracks…
Meanwhile, on the opposite coast:
A…[California] police officer is currently under investigation after…raping a trans woman…the cop stopped her while she was walking to a friend’s house…he…groped her and asked if she was a “nasty shemale”…then forced her to perform oral sex and raped her…[she] was able to retrieve and turn in a [used] condom…[for] DNA test…
White House official fired for mocking his masters. Same government official hires whores. Media pretends this is somehow shocking: “…well-known National Security Council staffer Jofi Joseph…was the man behind @NatSecWonk…and…follow-up reports claim Joseph may also have been writing as @DCHobbyist…a regular patron of Washington’s sex worker scene…”
Britain’s most senior police officer has said he cannot be sure that [cops] are not still getting involved in sexual relationships with partners who do not know their real identities. Eleven women are taking legal action against the Metropolitan police over claims that they were duped into relationships…with undercover officers…
The Course of a Disease (TW3 #48)
Indian sex workers protest another attempt to impose the horrible Swedish model:
[In] the Puja [at]…Sonagachi…this year…Mahishasur was depicted as…embodying the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. And Goddess Durga was shown ripping the demon-legislation apart with her trident…[a new amendment]…criminalises clients visiting brothels…[which] is tantamount to depriving sex workers of their livelihood. “Moreover, it will lead to more and more harassment by the police,” says [Bharati De of DMSC]…
This zombie legislation just won’t stay dead: “The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which [requires] private companies to share customer information with the NSA and others in the name of cybersecurity, is back on the legislative agenda…”
Here We Go Again (Extra Edition)
This academic’s massive blind spot about “sex trafficking” hysteria is fascinating; she walks all around that elephant in the room, yet can’t see it. Furthermore, the details about how the “white slavery” panic fueled the growth of the FBI are interesting.
Uncommon Sense (Extra Edition)
…Zurich…provided…a suite of 30 drive-in wooden booths in a non-residential neighborhood, where surveillance could keep pimps out…[The city thinks] they work…[but] organizations working with prostitutes…say…the…boxes attract new arrivals rather than…street veterans…[who] have…just gone elsewhere…Switzerland’s Salvation Army has recommended that the city allow prostitutes back onto the old red light district…Cornelia Zürrer Ritter…of the SA…[said]…gave…up [the facility] because they “earned less money there and found the working conditions inhumane”…
Theresa May, the UK Home Secretary…[has launched] her attack on “modern day slavery”…a tiresome, over-emotive phrase which functions as political speak for human trafficking…[she] has made much of the need for increasingly harsh sentences for traffickers. But, as highlighted by Anti-Slavery International, this focus is a red herring. Its position is that the UK should improve its response to victims, primarily by taking a more robust approach against victim criminalization…
Furthermore, as Tim Worstall explains:
…a new report…shows…that while the problem is real it’s small. United Kingdom Estimated number enslaved 4,200 – 4,600…But…who can forget Dennis MacShane telling the House of Commons that there are 25,000 slaves just in the sex industry [or]…Julie Bindel and…the Poppy Project insisting that there are vast tribes of women held as sex slaves…
And even that 4200 is hyperinflated.
Finally, mainstream coverage of the vile mistreatment of Alicia Beltran:
…[at] 12 weeks pregnant, she [went] to a…clinic…for a…checkup…[she] admitted a past struggle with…Percocet…but [had been self-administering] Suboxone…to treat Percocet dependency…in decreasing doses…[with the] last dose a few days before her…visit…the physician’s assistant recommended she renew…use of Suboxone under a doctor’s supervision. After Beltran declined…she was asked to take a drug test, which was negative for all…except Suboxone. Two weeks later, a social worker visited Beltran…and told her that she needed to continue Suboxone treatment…Beltran…again declined. Two days later, [cops dragged her to]…a…judge [who] ordered her to spend 90 days in a drug treatment center…
Yes, the state chained and caged her because she wouldn’t take drugs.
A powerful argument against draconian sentences:
…The dead…are a howling wound deafening those left behind. Locking a killer away for a lifetime doesn’t silence that howling…it merely creates eddies of despair, whirlpools that swirl and draw down…the spirits of the condemned, their loved ones, and…the rest of us. Revenge isn’t justice, it is just revenge…locking people up doesn’t bring back the dead, it doesn’t repay money stolen, it doesn’t repair the psyche of all the folks we calls victims. Prison is a confession of failure, both for society and for the individuals who demand long sentences without end for those who transgress…our love of prisons…[is] a celebration of a moral cancer…
For those who think my use of the word “pogrom” is too strong to describe police persecution of whores and clients: “60 people were arrested…as part of ‘Operation Off the Streets 2’, a cleansing initiative…men and women have been busted for everything…from street level prostitution to…Internet and hotel arrangements in Northwest D.C…” A “cleansing initiative”; like “ethnic cleansing”.
The APNSW held a workshop last week, and several media outlets were on hand to interview sex workers and activists (including Melissa Ditmore and Cheryl Overs) about prohibitionist myths, the rescue industry and Equality Now’s attempt to negate the voices of thousands of sex workers. Regular readers won’t find anything surprising here, but it’s important to note the rising number of articles debunking “trafficking” mythology and publicizing both sex workers’ calls for decriminalization and the fact that several UN agencies support that policy.
More pearl-clutching about young pop-stars from a bunch of middle-aged ones who can’t compete with them any more, and “feminists” who never could. It’s at least 2000 words too long and rife with inane buzzwords like “pornographic object”, “misogyny” and “sexualization”, but it’s mildly amusing in a train-wreck sort of way.
As expected, six were closed: “Seven of Edinburgh’s saunas have had their licences renewed…in the face of police objections…items of a sexual nature can be permitted on the premises — rejecting a principal objection by the police…[who later] denied this…meant condoms should be banned from the saunas…”
Hey I’m all good with eliminating prisons! Anyone that commits a crime against me or my family dies at my hands and I get to live a happy go lucky life with no fear of government reprisal! That’s a pretty rosy scenario!
Humans have a natural need for fairness and moral balance. Don’t want to give it to them in a controlled manner through the legal justice system? Then don’t complain when they take matters into their own hands – and it will happen.
You take a life – you should lose your life – really simply that. You have forfeited your right to live as a human on this planet. Nope – it don’t bring victims back from the dead … and it may not make people feel 100 percent comfortable but the surviving victims realize that justice was served.
The assassination of Osama Bin Laden – was nothing more than revenge – retribution – and it was 100 percent necessary. It’s probably the only thing Obama will be remembered for having done RIGHT.
LOL – and don’t think it doesn’t have a deterrent effect. Look at the Muslims – they exact “revenge” on anyone who speaks ill of the profit. Does not matter how long it takes – one of them will track your ass down and put you to the knife.
As a result – Muslims now have a special status – they can’t be criticized. In England – the legal justice system turns a blind eye to Muslims exercising barbaric aspects of “Sharia” – simply because they fear the revenge of the Islamo-fascists.
Oh – it works alright! Burn a Bible – no one cares (Christians these days are peaceful – they actually turn the cheek) … burn a Koran – invite holy hell on yourself. So no one burns a Koran.
I’m kind of sick of the pop schmack that there is something inherently wrong with revenge and retribution. Hell, there may be something wrong with killing animals and eating their flesh but we do it because we’re human and have nutritional needs that are a result of evolution. It’s no different with retribution and revenge. Sure – you can turn this over a million times and exercise philosophy and postulate that it’s not a good thing … but the fact remains – it’s a necessary thing.
Pretty much a perfect recipe for anarchy! “Prison is a confession of failure” … so let’s get rid of ’em and we can all be successful – as the monsters around us have their way!
We will have no more success ridding ourselves of this basic need than we would in suppressing the male sex drive.
There are other ways to get rid of troublemakers than torturing them in a way that degrades and destroys all of society. If you can’t see that, I can’t explain it to you. Hint: Australia.
I agree with you – but I wasn’t getting “that” from the author of that article. When he makes a ridiculous statement like “prison is a confession of failure” …
It’s like when I was a Master Chief in the Navy – I was expected to teach Chief Petty Officers that a failure … even a failure in character … on the part of one of their subordinates was directly reflective of THEIR leadership of said subordinate.
That’s a touchy subject – because on the one hand, you DO want Chiefs to take their leadership role so seriously, that they SHOULD question their leadership of a Sailor who’s failed and evaluate if that leadership could have been a contributing factor.
But then – there are bad apples – and they’re not spectacularly rare – and no matter what you do – they will be “bad”.
(I have a whole story on MY OWN failure due directly to following the kind of paradigm that “everyone can be saved”. It’s quite instructive how “compassion” is not always the correct path – even when the individual(s) you are dealing with seem to have special circumstances that clearly merit compassion. You would think I’m a hard-ass, and that’s clearly when I’m at my best – but I do have a heart and sympathy for people who have experienced hardships and as a Master Chief – I was willing to go 100 extra miles to help these kinds of people. I would go into this story, but it made national news and was so unique anyone would know who “Krulac” is if I posted anything on it.)
Yes, I do think we need to analyze the way incarcerate people and there’s a whole universe of improvements we could implement. I think we jail far too many people for non-crimes … we can be “passionate” and overturn the laws that imprison these people.
But for the bad apples … nope. The author of this article seems to dream of a world where no one’s imprisoned, or somehow we “rationalize” away crimes over things like … “well she was abused as a kid you know!”
In his solution to the problem – everyone’s pretty much released, or treated for whatever psychological disorder we can brand them with.
In my universe – the bad apples are punished – and severely.
Imprisoning convicted killers allows us the luxury of changing our minds if it turns out we convicted the wrong person. Letting accused killers roam free without strong evidence (such as a trial) that the accusation is false strikes me as societal masochism.
Except that most “killers” aren’t actually cold-blooded murderers, and all “killers” combined make up only a tiny fraction of the American prison population, most of whom are caged for violating arbitrary, stupid rules invented by power-mad overlords to further the sick, twisted 19th-century dream of a clockwork society which runs like a factory.
Oh, I agree with you regarding most of the prison population. But there ARE some people in prison for being violent thugs, and I think that keeping them away from the prey population only makes sense. I’d be for executing the really bad ones, except its awfully hard to un-execute somebody when it turns out that the Prosecutor in his case was more interested in getting reelected than in convicting the correct person.
I am emphatically NOT in favor of committing the violent thugs to mental institutions; as such sentencing is almost ALWAYS open ended. Besides, I’m not convinced that insane and uncivil are synonymous.
The difference between ‘mad’ and ‘bad’; the ‘bad’ are unfixable.
That’s what penal colonies are for. They isolate the dangerous individuals without allowing sadists to torture them.
And just where do you suppose we send them? Displacing another bunch of Abos just isn’t on.
The government owns many thousands of square miles, much of it already fenced, which isn’t being used for anything. Move the border patrols from the Mexican border to that one (OUTSIDE, not inside) and reduce the prison population to the world norm (about 1/5 of what it is now), and the population density inside would be lower than in many states.
“Escape From New York City” ???
Can I be Snake Plissken?
I don’t think you can compare what you’re suggesting to Australia. The Australians were dumped on a continent that had resources and were allowed to do some self-governance. I’m unaware of the British government HAVING to provide them food once they were dropped off – they had a whole island to hunt and raise their own food.
What you’re suggesting is more in-line with the Indian Reservations – and that was not a success.
Not to mention that the ACLU would consider your suggestion to be “cruel and inhuman” punishment.
No, I’m suggesting exactly that: a big enough area with low enough population for them to subsist on their own. No “punishment” except that resulting from nature, the inability to leave & the other prisoners.
When the first ‘transportees’ arrived in Australia, there was FA^2 there.
And this is different from Prison, how? In fact, now that I come to think of it, the vast majority of “Prison Colonies” were (unless I’m wrong) a lot more like French Guiana as described in Papillon than like Australia, weren’t they?
I like Maggie’s idea – but it’s fraught with a lot of problems.
Yes, you’re right – a prisoner’s lot in one of these “colonies” would be worse than at the hands of the current prison system. This is a “feature” for me – not a “bug” … but the ACLU will consider this cruel and inhuman.
1. These prisoners, citizens, would no longer have the right to equal protection under the law. They would be isolated, and beyond U.S. law and governing themselves in, I presume, a “gang” type existence. This would be unconstitutional.
2. Killing would happen indiscriminately – and without the threat of punishment. This would be considered a defacto death sentence for many – even for those imprisoned for lesser offenses compared to the rest of the prison population.
3. If you think GITMO is an international controversy …
4. The Indians were put on some fairly large tracts of lands – but were never able to subsist without the aid of the U.S. government. Lack of resources was one of the reasons for the many revolts of the Chiracahua Apaches under Geronimo.
5. In order to make this a true “colony” you’d have to give them access to resources such as manufacturing machinery – and some other things that, on the whole, would be pretty scary to put in the hands of prisoners. Materials they could use to make weapons, construct IED’s or even sophisticated bombs. Then you’d have to give them a way to “trade” with the outside and this takes the security issues to whole ‘nuther level.
On the whole – with the legal issues, the international human rights issues … this might be more trouble than it’s worth.
But if anyone’s for bucking international opinion – it’s Krulac!
The biggest problem with something like this – or any prison system that officially or unofficially allows the criminals to run things – is that it will work out to a system that rewards the worst criminals and excessively punishes the lesser criminals. That is, gang leaders and psychopaths will be sitting pretty, while the undersized guy with an 85 IQ and several convictions for breaking into vending machines is a slave.
Usually, it’s an abdominal x-ray for suspected drugs. But, if I say that this normal, erect chest x-ray is impressive, would you slap me round the chops? 😉
I looked for an abdominal x-ray to use, but I couldn’t find a normal one; all the ones I found showed either pathology or drugs in balloons, and since the young woman did NOT have any drugs I didn’t want to use one like that. So I went with the “impressive” chest x-ray instead. 😉
The horizontal clavicles confirm it as the PA chest x-ray of a female; but, it’s slightly rotated, and—ahem—rather over penetrated 😉
Actually, in the matter of the device which launches a bug from a police car onto the back of another car, I first heard of that in the context of avoiding car chases. As long as target and cop(s) are whizzing around all over the place, they’re putting who knows how many lives in danger, not just their own. If the cop can tag the target’s car and track it that way, they can back off, let the target think they’ve gotten away, and go pick them up where they’ve stopped.
I think from a Constitutional standpoint and a privacy standpoint, this method is a hell of a lot better than cops walking up to the car and putting a bug up under the bumper. The thing is the size of a soda can; you’re not going to miss it if you look on the back of your car. (They’re also $500 a pop [not that that means much] and the launcher can only hold two of them without stopping to reload, so they’re not going to be firing these off willy-nilly.)
I think the fact that they’d mention “trafficking” at all is more because that kind of thing is expected in such stories, than out of any particular suitability for that purpose. This is meant to stop car chases, and I think that’s a good use.
That’s not to say they can’t be put to bad uses, but they’re technology; all technology has good and bad uses.
I was very happy to see Sara Kruzan get paroled. I’d have been happier if she had been pardoned.
My general thought on prisons–or imprisonment of any sort–is limiting it to those who represent an imminent physical danger to their communities. The rest should be on work release, doing community service to literally pay for their crimes.
As to those who need to be imprisoned, I would prefer an island, or islands, surrounded by man-eating sharks.