Book report



Book report

Introduction

Moskos, an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who specializes in police and criminal science, debates with the utmost seriousness the merits of flogging as an alternative to incarceration. Whether it's called caning or lashing, he concludes flogging, which penetrates the flesh but is over quickly, is less cruel than depriving people of a chunk of their lives in "a barbaric, inhuman" institution where a record number of 2.3 million Americans endure insult and humiliation, with a high incidence of sexual aggression, rape, and a great risk of contracting a communicable disease. Moskos lists the long history of prison reforms in the U.S., but concludes that our penal system remains "an insidious marriage of entombment and torture." Presenting the Singapore and Malaysian models of flogging, the author draws on interviews and recommendations to boost his "thought experiment." Indeed, when Moskos mentions the possibility of electric shock as another option, readers will begin to wonder if the writer is poking outlandish fun and crafting a notion similar to Swift's 1729 classic "A Modest Proposal," using satire to call attention to the "shame" of out inhumane prison system (Edward , 1959).

Discussion Analysis

The author starts off through a description of the prison situation in the United States, where imprisonment is quite a popular punishment for crime. So popular, in fact, that there are now 2.3 million people currently in prison. That is an incredible amount of human potential that is being wasted right now. When you add to that the enormous human and financial resources required guarding the prisoners, housing them, feed them, and so on, this imprisonment can be seen to be a significant drain on society.

Other than fining people--if they have money—one cannot think of a better way to punish than physical pain. In the book author teaches criminal justice, and in that field, that are not going to find many supporters of prison. Those in the political world justify it, but it's sickening to me that we have 2.3 million prisoners (George, 1955). If prisons deterred crime, wouldn't have so many damn prisoners. What author is proposing is offering people a choice between prison and flogging. When author ask people what they'd choose, the vast majority would choose to get flogged--but many aren't willing to offer that choice to somebody else. They say no, flogging is wrong. I get that, because flogging is ugly.

People say there's a slippery slope that we'd end up stoning people. Flogging does have a long history in America, and people don't have a history of stoning people or blinding people. This isn't a foreign concept that would open the door for absurd and horrible forms of punishment. Author does not think we're going to institute flogging anytime soon, and it would make me queasy if we did. But it cuts the bullshit about prisons being good for the soul.

Authors' Police background did cement for me the idea that our current system doesn't work, and cops know ...