Power, Politics And Crime

William J Chambliss

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780813334875
• eBook ISBN: 9780429977718
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

In the United States today, we are on the verge of fulfilling a nightmare scenario. Parents are fearful of letting their children play in their own yards and elderly people are afraid to leave their homes. The bogeyman in this rampant panic about crime is the young black male, who, in the media and public image, is a ?superpredator? lurking on every street corner ready to attack any prey that is vulnerable. But is crime in America really as bad as the public has been made to believe?Power, Politics, and Crime argues that the current panic over crime has been manufactured by the media, law enforcement bureaucracies, and the private prison industry. It shows how the definition of criminal behavior systematically singles out the inner-city African American. But urban minorities aren't the only victims. Although crime rates have been declining for 25 years, vast amounts of money pour into the criminal justice-industrial complex, diverting scarce resources from other social services such as education, social welfare, and health care. While in recent years downsizing has affected almost every segment of the public sector, the criminal justice bureaucracies have seen an unprecedented expansion.Through ethnographic observations, analysis of census data, and historical research, William Chambliss describes what is happening, why it has come about, and what can be done about it. He explores the genesis of crime as a political issue, and the effect that crime policies have had on different segments of the population. The book is more than a statement about the politics of crime and punishment?it's a powerful indictment of contemporary law enforcement practices in the United States.In addition to updating the data the author has added a discussion of the "declining crime rate." Contrary to presentations in the media and by law enforcement agencies, the rate has been declining for over 25 years and therefore cannot be attributed to any "get tough on crime" policies so dear to the hearts of prosecutors and politicians. Chapter Seven, "Crime Myths and Smokescreens" has been completely revised and updated. Updates include a discussion of the recent scandal in the Los Angeles Police Department which has resulted in criminal charges against police officers and the release of numerous convicted felons because of falsified evidence and testimony on the part of police officers. The attack on Louima in the police station in New York as well as the shooting of Diallo are discussed in some detail as well as other recent exposures of police brutality and corruption. The sections on white collar, corporate, and state crimes have been updated and recent examples added to the text.

Part 1

Propaganda

Chapter One

The Politics of Fear

Political conservatives took a serious beating in the 1960s. The mood of the country was decidedly liberal. University campuses were in a state of virtual revolution, Marxism and other radical theories enjoyed a resurgence unknown since the depression, the Civil Rights movement mobilized millions of people demanding fundamental changes, and large sectors of the intelligentsia joined college students in actively opposing the Vietnam War.

In addition the Supreme Court overturned years of conservative criminal justice policies. The Miranda decision gave suspects the right to remain silent when questioned by the police, Gideon gave indigent defendants the right to a lawyer, and Escobedo limited the admissibility of defendant’s statements to the police if the defendant’s request to have a lawyer present had been denied.

Conservatives, however, were not without the resources to mount a counteroffensive. A cabal of leading industrialists, along with the right-wing journalist William F. Buckley, met to develop strategies to turn the tide. Wealthy Americans contributed funds to create “think tanks” that promulgated the conservative ideology, and the power elite formed political action committees (PACs) that infused massive sums into the political campaigns of conservatives.

One result of conservative mobilization against liberalism was the selection of Barry Goldwater, the darling of the conservatives, as the Republican presidential nominee in 1964.

Goldwater, whose campaign manager Holmes Alexander was an outspoken racist, ran against the Civil Rights movement, intending to break the Democratic party’s traditional hold on the southern states. He advocated legislation to turn back the Civil Rights movement, which he alleged was “Communist inspired.” He also sought to overturn the Supreme Court decisions enhancing the rights of criminal defendants. His focus on crime was a smoke screen for a covertly racist campaign.

Goldwater sounded the alarm in his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention: “Tonight there is violence in our streets, corruption in our highest offices, aimlessness among our youth, anxiety among our elderly … security from domestic violence, no less than from foreign aggression, is the most elementary and fundamental purpose of any government.”¹

On the campaign trail Goldwater hammered away at crime and used racist allusions to equate crime with African Americans and the Civil Rights movement. He placed the blame for civil disorder squarely on the shoulders of “liberals,” civil rights demonstrators, and Democratic party policies that coddled criminals :

Our wives, all women, feel unsafe on our streets. And in encouragement of even more abuse of the law, we have the appalling spectacle of this country’s Ambassador to the United Nations [Adlai Stevenson] actually telling an audience—this year, at Colby College—that, “in the great struggle to advance human civil rights, even a jail sentence is no longer a dishonor but a proud achievement.” Perhaps we are destined to see in this law-loving land people running for office not on their stainless records but on their prison record.²

Goldwater referred to civil rights as a threat to the safety of “our wives” time and again throughout the campaign. It was the most blatant attempt to link crime and violence to African Americans since the Dixiecrats (a third party of southern conservatives) opposed the Democratic civil rights stand in the 1948 presidential election.

Throughout the campaign the Democratic presidential candidate, Lyndon Johnson, argued that crime was part of the larger issue of social justice, which would be handled by his “Great Society” programs:

Asked about the Federal Government’s role in checking “crime in the streets,” President Johnson said his anti-poverty program would be of “some help” and “our increased educational measures will be of great help. Johnson said other measures to improve “shameful” living conditions and promote the education, training, and recreation of city residents should be developed.³

The voters were not receptive to Goldwater’s message. Less than three weeks before the election Newsweek’s editors wrote, “Remarkably late in the campaign, Barry Goldwater was still a candidate in search of an issue that could score a voting breakthrough … [He] did all he could to press the issue of law and order.”⁴ Johnson was reelected to the presidency by a landslide. He received the largest share of the popular vote so far recorded in the United States. He won a majority in every region of the country.⁵ Clearly Goldwater’s hue and cry over the danger of crime did not strike a resonant chord among the American public.

Crime never appeared in public opinion polls taken during the campaign of 1963 and 1964 as a major problem. In polls taken after the election, in May 1965, the most important problems facing the nation were said to be (in rank order) the Vietnam War, civil rights, the threat of war, prestige abroad, spread of world communism, the Dominican Republic crisis, the high cost of living, and unemployment. Only 2 percent of the respondents mentioned juvenile delinquency as the most important problem. These results were consistent with findings from polls for the preceding thirty-five years: In Gallup polls taken every year since the 1930s respondents consistently said that the most important problems facing America were unemployment, keeping out of war, the high cost of living, and inflation. In the 1950s America saw communism as a major problem, and in the 1960s they were concerned with civil rights, the Vietnam War, and race relations. (See Table 1.1) Crime was almost never mentioned, and never was it near the top of the list of most important problems. Goldwater and his strategists misidentified the issues that most concerned Americans.

Johnson had campaigned on a platform to create the Great Society, where poverty would be eliminated and everyone would have an “equal opportunity” to share in the American dream. After his election he continued to argue that the problem of crime could not be divorced from the problems of poverty and education.

The politics of fear were beginning to take their toll on Johnson and the conservative Democrats in Congress. By 1965 Johnson had conceded that “crime has become malignant energy in America’s midst.” He insisted, however, on putting the crime problem into a broader political-economic framework:

TABLE 1.1 Respondents’ Perception of the “Most Important Problem” Facing the United States, 1935–1997

Year	Problem	Year	Problem
1935	Unemployment	1981	High cost of living, unemployment
1936	Unemployment	1982	Unemployment, high cost of living
1937	Unemployment	1983	Unemployment, high cost of living
1938	Keeping out of war	1984	Unemployment, fear of war
1939	Keeping out of war	1985	Fear of war, unemployment
1940	Keeping out of war	1986	Unemployment, fear of war
1941	Keeping out of war, winning war	1987	Fear of war, unemployment
1942	Winning war	1988	Budget deficit, drug abuse
1943	Winning war	1989	Drugs, poverty, homelessness
1944	Winning war	1990	Budget deficit, drugs
1945	Winning war	1991	Economy, poverty, homelessness,
1946	High cost of living		drugs, unemployment
1947	High cost of living, labor unrest	1992	Economy, unemployment
1948	Keeping peace	1993	Health care, economy
1949	Labor unrest	1994	Crime /violence, health care
1950	Labor unrest	1995	Crime/violence, unemployment/jobs
1951	Korean War
1952	Korean War	1996^a	Crime, drugs
1953	Keeping peace	1997	Crime/violence, drugs/drug abuse
1954	Keeping peace
1955	Keeping peace
1956	Keeping peace
1957	Race relations, keeping peace
1958	Unemployment, keeping peace
1959	Keeping peace
1960	Keeping peace
1961	Keeping peace
1962	Keeping peace
1963	Keeping peace, race relations
1964	Vietnam, race relations
1965	Vietnam, race relations
1966	Vietnam
1967	Vietnam, high cost of living
1968	Vietnam
1969	Vietnam
1970	Vietnam
1971	Vietnam, high cost of living
1972	Vietnam
1973	High cost of living, Watergate
1974	High cost of living, Watergate, energy crisis
1975	High cost of living, unemployment
1976	High cost of living, unemployment
1977	High cost of living, unemployment
1978	High cost of living, energy problem
1979	High cost of living, energy problem
1980	High cost of living, unemployment

SOURCES: Gallup Polls, 1935–1997

^a 1996 data come from the Los Angeles Times; all other data come from Gallup.

We are not prepared in our democratic system to pay for improved law enforcement by unreasonable limitations on the individual protection which ennobles our system. Yet there is the undoubted necessity that society be protected from the criminal and that the rights of society be recognized along with the rights of the individual … the fault lies in poor living conditions, limited education, and the denial of opportunity. Plainly, laws are less likely to command the respect of those forced to live at the margins of our society. Stability and order have little meaning and small advantage to those who exist in poverty, hopelessness and despair.⁶

Johnson proposed legislation to establish the Office of Law Enforcement Assistance (OLEA) and the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice. He asked Congress for a $10 million grant for training law enforcement personnel and for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of criminal justice information. In September 1965, Congress passed the bill and appropriated $7 million for each of the next three years.

The Republicans in Congress and aspiring Republican presidential candidates for the 1968 election continued to barrage the public with “law and order” campaigns built on racist stereotypes of violent, criminal black men out of control and out of reach of the law. As the 1966 congressional elections approached, the Republican party followed the Goldwater strategy of linking crime with civil rights. At a press conference on October 3, 1966, the Republican Coordinating Committee stated that “Unfortunately the Johnson-Humphrey Administration has accomplished nothing of substance to date to promote public safety. Indeed, high officials of this administration have condoned and encouraged disregard for law and order.”⁷ Richard Nixon jumped into the law and order fray with remarks previewing his upcoming presidential campaign: “A vote for Johnson’s Congress is a vote for continuing the President’s policy of no action against a crime rate which in the last half decade has...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables and Illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Misperceptions of Crime
• PART 1: PROPAGANDA
• PART 2: PRACTICE
• PART 3: IMPLICATIONS
• Index