1. Law and Order
For me the litmus test of any conservative is their dedication to law and order which is indicative on their feelings on Justice. The Marxist interpretation of crime has infected the criminal justice system, the study of criminality, and even our thoughts on how victims are treated. I see even my fellow social conservatives wavering in the defense of Justice these days, and embracing the leftist theory of criminality being produced by factors outside the individual criminal.
The Left has long taught that criminality is the result of oppression, but the truth is that criminals commit crimes because they’re bad people. To say that poverty drives criminals to steal or deal drugs is to insult the millions of poor people who are law abiding citizens. To claim child abusers are created by a past history of abuse ignores the fact that most abuse victims do not go on to abuse others. But the damage these myths do is extensive.
We have all embraced the idea that criminality is an illness, not a moral failing. We think we can “fix” sex offenders with treatment or that drug users might be better off if we don’t arrest them. We focus our attention on the criminals, giving them the sympathy and resources that victims sorely need in a misguided attempt to rehabilitate people who have no interest in changing their ways.
What do criminals do with all our efforts to mold them into better people? A recent report from the California Department of Corrections states that felons released from prison have a 75% recidivism rate, with most being re-arrested within three years of release. We often hear about the supposedly low rates of recidivism by sex offenders and indeed they re-offend at lower rates according to the study: “just” 67% within three years.
And that’s just the crimes that have been solved.
We hear about casualties of the War on Drugs and meekly accept assertions that jails are full of some poor pot smokers who are basically harmless. This despite the fact that nearly half of all male criminals who were picked up for other crimes test positive for drugs. Marijuana, by the way, is the most common drug found in criminals except ones from Atlanta, where cocaine is more common.
The fact is that there are no people in jail for a recreational amount of weed. I went to high school in the late 1980s in NYC and witnessed cops taking dime bags from people and giving them tickets. Dealers go to jail, not some kid at a Phish concert. People who force toddlers to smoke pot go to jail. People who eat out their babies eyeballs while they’re high go to jail. People who have infants that test positive for meth go to jail. The guy with a joint on him does not.
While we fret over the mythical “innocent” drug users in prison there isn’t much thought about their victims. I notice there’s been no collection drive for the child whose father ate out his eyes. I don’t see many “social conservatives” taking time out from slandering NRB‘s Jesse Hathaway to raise money for recovering addicts or their children.
Societies cannot operate without the members being dedicated to Justice and order. As I became more involved with crime blogging and activism I found that many victim advocates have a fairly low opinion of social conservatives, based largely on what they see as our disinterest in morality when it comes to crime. We blame the victims of rape for their own assaults, we use child exploitation as a front for attacks on gays and then we give the same cover and comfort to criminals as leftists do when we support socially liberal stances like repealing sex offender registration or drug legalization.
If we aren’t the voices for law and order who will be? If we aren’t the voices that speak out for the need of the victim to see justice done, who will be? This, to me, is our biggest failing and the most disappointing facet of the social conservative movement.
