Justice and Prison Reform

I just finished reading Ezra Klein's article on prison rape that appeared in the Los Angeles times the other day. Here is the key quote for me:

But by and large, we seem to find more humor than outrage in these crimes. In part, this simply reflects the nature of our criminal justice system, which has become decreasingly rehabilitative and increasingly retributive.

Indeed. I'm not sure if anyone has been able to tell from the subjects I like to blog about, but I think that justice and prison reform should be one of the most pressing political issues of the day. If I were a politician I would be pushing it as one of my highest priorities. For me, it all goes back to thinking about what our objectives our with respect to the criminal justice system. Is our objective to promote a peaceful, law abiding, socially adjusted populace? Or is it just to feel momentarily good about the revenge we are inflicting on people who break the law? From a public policy perspective the obvious answer is the former. So, off the top of my head, here are some of my specific proposals for justice reform:

1) Decriminalize and regulate (and tax) all drugs. What are now illegal narcotics should be treated in two ways depending on their addictive nature (to be determined through an open and scientific regulatory structure). Non-addictive drugs should be regulated in a way that is similar to alcohol or tobacco. Production or sale of these drugs outside the regulatory regime should be result in strictly regulatory (i.e. non-criminal) fines and punishments. We should prohibit the production and import of addictive drugs. Again, the result of production or importation should be a regulatory, non-criminal punishment. Simple possession of prohibited addictive drugs should be dealt with in specialized statutory drug courts whose sole purpose should be proper medical treatment of addiction.

2) Prostitution should be legalized and a special tribunal created to adjudicate disputes arising out of legal prostitution. The tribunal should place special emphasis on the privacy of the women involved in prostitution and the prevention of exploitation.

3) Both general and specific deterrence should be removed from the Criminal Code as factors for judges to consider in sentencing. Judges should be directed through statute to consider more alternative, non-penal sentencing options and to take specific consideration of the offenders social and economic background, and the influence of addictive drugs on the commission of the offense.

4) Amend s. 24 of the Charter to include an independent, Constitutional, tortious cause of action against law enforcement agencies for Charter violations.

5) Create an independent body to consider new, exculpatory evidence at a lower legal threshold than is currently applied.

6) Massively increase funding for addiction harm-reduction programs (like Insite in Vancouver) and mental health resources.

Feel free to add to my list. These are just off-the-cuff proposals mostly.

Update: Some other points that go to access to our legal system.

7) Create a single-payer, optional, government administered legal insurance regime.

8) Extend legal aid services to included everyone charged with a criminal offense of any kind.

9) Increase the maximum value of claims in small claims courts; give small claims judges wider statutory discretion to settle claims on equitable outcomes (in order to dull the disadvantage of self-represented litigants); allow awarding of full costs.

Zimbabwe

It's looking possible that Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC may pull off an election win in Zimbabwe. That could be either really good or really bad news. Bad news because dictators who usually rig elections and round up and beat the shit out of opposition activists don't usually leave office without violence.

Tibetan Artist: Gonkar Gyatso

An interesting look at contemporary Tibetan art, culture and self-reflection:

It is a relatively recent situation for Tibetans to remove art from its iconographical, religious origins of thangkas and scrolls and recontextualize it within the modern dialectic. The most striking example of this process can be found in the work of Gonkar Gyatso, an artist who uses ideological identity portraiture and sophisticated graphics to discuss the modernist dilemma facing contemporary Tibetans...

In My Identity 1-4, Gyatso represents himself alternately as a Tibetan native painting a traditional thangka; a Communist Chinese painting a portrait of Mao; a refugee painting a picture of The Dalai Lama; and finally, an international urban sophisticate painting a picture of the cosmos. Who, however, is the real Gonkar?

A telling portrait of a culture under seige in the post-post-modern world of schizophrenic, reflective self-identification.

B and I spent what I consider one of the most important parts of our trip to China in Xiahe, a town in western China known for the Labrang Monestary that's located there, where Buddhists from all over the world make the pilgramage as part of the Yellow Hat sect that the Dalai Lama is spiritual leader to.

One of the most striking memories I have of our time there was at a little restaurant we found tucked away; there, we ate fried noodles and greens with a roomful of monks-in-training, who--in all their red-robed majesty--were yucking up watching the NBA semi-finals on tv. One of them even had a black ace bandage around his elbow, suggesting an injury he might have received while playing basketball himself. The impression of that contrast, between the centuries-old traditional red robes of a monk and the spandex'd sports brace of a modern-day athletic teen, has never left me--and it is perhaps one of the strongest memories I have from my entire trip through China. Why? I think because, in this secular culture I live in, the "divinity" of the Tibetan monk is something beyond which I can inherently understand. And yet they live in this, the modern world.

These pieces of art (posted) reveal a similar conflict to that which I saw in that little restaurant in Xiahe. The traditional world of a sacred religion comingling with the reality of today, with its liberalism, technology, severe isolation and indulgent self- reflection and expression.

Iraq

For people still interested in what is going on in Iraq, read Juan Cole's blog. He's a professor of middle eastern history at the University of Michigan, speaks fluent Arabic and Persian, and produces consistently good analysis and news summaries from local Iraqi media.

Fighting 5-year-olds makes it big!

So it appears that the How-Many-5-Year-Olds-Can-You-Take-In-A-Fight discussion has officially become a cultural phenomenon, now that Chuck Klosterman has written about it in this month's Esquire Magazine (Sorry, link is not online). His piece is pretty lame - you'd think Chuck Klosterman would have a little more of a fresh perspective on the matter. But still, nice to see that a topic that I'm still convinced was originally thought up by the contributors of this blog some years ago is now a mainstream, national conversation. Next up: Cobras.

I Call Bullshit!

I Call Bullshit (!) on a lot of things. Here are a few. Maybe I'll make this into a regular theme for posts.

I call bullshit on:

-People who refer to old people as "cute". Especially when they're teenaged girls.

-Those "brand power" ads.....one because I don't understand what's behind them, and two because I know that whatever is behind them is extremely cynical and evil.

-Words that always get put in italics when they're used, like realpolitik or chutzpuh.


Bullshit!

Election stuff

I must admit that I was pretty surprised to see that the whole Jeremiah Wright thing didn't really hurt Obama at all, as per the most recent polls. When you take into consideration that Clinton now can't use the "Obama has never had to withstand an attack" line anymore, the whole thing actually probably helped him. I think this should calm people down who want him to win but are worried about if he has what it takes to face Republicans. Think about it - if it was revealed that any other Democrat had a pastor and close friend who was a high-profile racist and condemned America one week after 9/11, they'd be fucked. Obama somehow managed to use it as an opportunity to address the looming race issue (and it looks like to much success) and get it out of the way, while keeping his "above the fray" image (and yes, I know it's nothing more than an image) intact all well refusing to disown Jeremiah Wright. Impressive.

On another note, the whole fascination with exit polls and the demographic breakdowns of primary voters is getting really annoying. The bottom line is that most members of a party will vote for their party no matter who is the candidate, most states are very predictably Democrat or Republican, and the presidency is won by winning individual states. So what the fuck! Who cares if white men in Mississippi hate Obama or black people love him.......there is absolutely no way the Democrats will win Mississippi. And there's no way they'll lose New York or California. The only demographics that matter are those in the key swing states, and I'd guess that on average, any old white people in these states that refuse to vote for an African-American will be more than made up for by the massive African-American turnout that will be guaranteed in that (or any other) state.

The road less travelled

Via this article on the traffic problem in Toronto, I really like the idea of getting rid of standard road taxes and parking fees and replacing them with a satellite system that monitors travel, parking, etc. for every individual vehicle and charges accordingly. The customization is great - It makes it super-easy to reduce pollution and congestion by pricing the grid strategically. Besides some privacy concerns and the inconvenient fact that any politician who introduced this would pretty much be thrown out right away, I think this system really would solve a lot of problems. That and actually investing in the TTC so it isn't completely ridiculous anymore.

Winning me over with common sense

Obama speaks truth to power...

“Under Republican and Democratic administrations, we failed to guard against practices that all too often rewarded financial manipulation instead of productivity and sound business practices,” Mr. Obama said.“The result has been a distorted market that creates bubbles instead of steady sustainable growth — a market that favors Wall Street over Main Street, but ends up hurting both.”

Tariffs

Could carbon tariffs be a suitable response to the developing world's reluctance to sign on to mandatory carbon emission reductions?

It seems to me that we should be valuing the environmental costs of allowing carbon emitters to treat carbon emissions as externalities, and force the internalization of that cost. We can do that within our own jurisdiction through carbon taxes or cap and trade, but without coherent and comprehensive international obligations the outside world is free to emit carbon and then sell the goods produced at a price that continued to treat carbon emissions as externalities. Unless we tax them entering the country. So it doesn't seem like such a bad idea to me.

And just to clarify... if these things are implemented properly I don't anticipate a situation where carbon emissions continue or are slightly reduced and tax revenue is raised from what is emitted. If environmental costs are properly valued then they should impose an economic cost on environmentally unsustainable practices so great that in practice, those activities are rendered obsolete. For example, carbon emissions that lead to global climate change will lead to catastrophic environmental damage. The greater the environmental damage caused by an activity then the limit to the economic costs should approach infinity. If I could press a button for pretty little calculus operators than I could demonstrate, but I can't, so just try to picture that. As the actual costs to society of carbon emissions come to be reflected in the costs of the products they create, those products will be undercut by products created through carbon neutral processes.

Panic! in Mexico City

Seems that mexicans do not like emo kids. Heh.

Canadian Finance Minister Doesn't Understand Basic Economics

It seems like a reporter finally called out a conservative politician on the bullshit argument that "tax cuts pay for themselves". Though we should all be a little bit frightened that our Finance Minster thinks we are on the tail end of the Laffer curve.

Artificial Energy Demand

An example of the result of BC's policy of energy self-sufficiency. The question that should always be asked when contemplating new energy projects is whether the economic, social and environmental costs of bringing capacity online outweigh the marginal cost per equivalent MWhrs of conservation.

Damages

Interesting NY Times article on the American use of punitive damages. Also ties in nicely to my current Conflict of Laws class. The article begins by mentioning the refusal of an Italian court to recognize a US judgment for punitive damages. I found that pretty surprising in light of how Canada generally applies the international principle of comity (respect of foreign legal jurisdictions). BC has become one of the most generous forums in the world in recognizing foreign judgments under the common law established in Morguard Investments v. DeSavoye and it's codification in the Court Order Enforcement Act. A BC court can refuse to enforce a foreign judgment if it would be contrary to public policy to do so - but this is a high burden. The judgment must be in opposition to fundamental principles of our legal system. I don't know anything about Italian conflict of laws rules, but I imagine that the decision indicates an Italian view that punitive damages are fundamentally contrary to their legal system.

The Supreme Court of Canada's view of punitive damages is articulated in Whiten v. Pilot Insurance Co. Punitive damages are only awarded in exceptional circumstances and their value is restricted. I tend to agree with the Canadian (and rest of the world's) view. I think the American court's use of punitive damages is the most important factor in explaining the litigious nature of American society. Any thoughts?

Cleaning Up Love Shots

You heard me. 

Japanese Language

I studied Japanese when I was living and teaching English there but never really understood the history of how the language evolved. I knew there was quite a bit of deliberate state action taken in the name of simplifying the language, but I didn't realize how recent that really was; thought it was in the so-called "olden days." Of course it makes sense that it was during the Meiji "Restoration," as it were, but I guess that didn't click for me before.

As linguistics is intimately linked with culture and the rules of human interaction and decorum, I wonder how such intentional, non-organic (not to insinuate bad necessarily, tho neither to support its opposite) manipulation of the Japanese language has affected subsequent generations since. Here's a history.

One thing I do find interesting to note is the emphasis the first linked article (a review of a book written about the history of Japanese written language) puts on the role of public speaking's high popularity in Japanese culture. I find this funny because, in Japan, I found that my older students especially loved to give little oratories that they'd written up as homework the class before; so every class I assigned this type of homework. And they just loved it! It was a way to share with a group ("the community") something about themselves, a memory or a tradition or a cultural reflection, something one doesn't often discuss in mixed company. It was wonderful. But it always seemed to me that they would most certainly not express in Japanese some of the feelings I heard articulated, only in English; their language of self-expression? I'm sure it's no shocker that I also drew the link between these little speeches that some loved giving in class to the same urge the Japanese all seem to share: to bust out some karaoke moves to an enthusiastic room full of fans. It's adorable.

Happy Easter!

Happy Day the Lord Christ Almighty Rose From Death and Freaked Out Millions of Romans... And those that went before him...

The Phrygians of central Turkey called him Attis. According to tradition, Attis died of self-inflicted wounds at the vernal equinox and possibly was resurrected three days later. At his own wedding, Attis was forced to castrate himself by a pine tree and died from loss of blood. (Pine is the oldest tree on the planet, and universally symbolizes immortality.) His blood fertilized the earth, and where it fell, violets blossomed.

Do you think that'll happen to Matt at his wedding... ?

Women Can't Be Trusted

So let's make them feel terrible when faced with the worst decision anyone should have to make. GoChristian legislators!

Ahhhh..... the Internet.

Heh:



I especially like when the girl on the left's pants disappear a little into the green screen, and then washes her face in the little raining McCains.

"Frisco"

I won't be writing too much over the next few days because I'm in the Bay Area till Tuesday. We're levaing in a few minutes for Napa and I get to spend the day pretending I'm a wine bigshot. Then we're in downtown SF for the weekend. Anyone have any good suggestions of stuff to do / see around here? This is my first time here with any free time to experience the city. I know that certain contributors to this blog will be jealous that I'm already planning to go here and here and maybe here, but you know, some variety is good too.