Crime and Criminal Justice

The recently approved new "drug" law in Mexico is in fact not a step toward decriminalization, but rather toward mandatory sentencing. Until last month, possession of small (unspecified) amounts of drugs was not a criminal offense in Mexico; only the sale or purchase was. The new law establishes a minuscule limit on legal possession, meaning that today, almost anyone caught carrying any drug is subject to arrest, prosecution and jail.

If anything, the new law criminalizes drug use much more radically than before.

Not since the aftermath of 9/11 has the word "evil" been bandied about so much in the public media. Last week, while sentencing Bernard Madoff to 150 years in prison, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin brought the term back in a big way. Chin's characterization of Madoff's crimes as "extraordinarily evil" was so striking that it made headlines around the world. And, as usual whenever that loaded word is used, there were plenty of people who were offended by it.

Which makes me wonder: With so much evil in the world, why are we so reluctant to use the term?

Now that the president and the Democrats in Congress have set a fall deadline for legislative action on universal police protection for all Americans, battle lines are being drawn on Capitol Hill. On the right are conservative defenders of America's system of for-profit, private mercenaries. The Democrats are divided among progressives who favor universal, publicly funded police who would protect all citizens against crime, and moderate and conservative Democrats who argue that any citizen security reform should leave America's existing system of soldiers for hire in place.

What's going on? All along I thought hordes of angry young men posed the greatest threat to society. Experts are always telling us to worry about the social menace from brooding young Turks with too much energy and time on their hands. They commit the lion's share of crimes and terrorist acts. They generally have the least to lose.

The economy is a wreck, and crime is down. Does that mean hard times and lawbreaking aren't linked?

One of my most vivid memories from childhood involves coming home from elementary school and finding that my family's VCR had been stolen. Even now, I'm not entirely sure how it happened, as there was no obvious sign of forced entry.

McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld is the dark, riveting journey through the panoply of criminal organizations flourishing in an increasingly globalized world, reaching from the sex trade in Bulgaria and internet fraud in Nigeria to the ‘caviar mafia’ in Central Asia and marijuana markets in British Columbia.

We're obsessed with race and ethnic relations in the U.S., so much so that we tend to believe that most crime, violent or otherwise, is committed across racial, ethnic or religious lines. We make a special category for "hate" crimes. Governments compile statistics on them. Journalists, always looking for the next great divide, eagerly read intergroup conflict into just about any form of antisocial behavior.

States like Texas and Oklahoma long ago ended racial segregation in their prisons. Now it’s California’s turn, after the Supreme Court ordered change. State prison officials have to bring white, black and Latino inmates together and still prevent rampant violence.

T.A. Frank, Editor of the Washington Monthly and a Fellow of New America Foundation, discusses how California begins to desegregate its prisons. LINK to audio