tomorrow night i’ll be participating in bringing human rights back home, a minnesota human rights center conference. i’m excited about the free evening performance of i voted for gummi bears, ochen k.’s one-person multi-media show on the history and impact of felon disenfranchisement. i’ve seen a preview of ochen’s show and it is truly amazing — surprisingly funny and personal, but also well-informed by the social science literature. his performance is at 7 pm friday in mondale hall of the university of minnesota law school, 229 19th ave s., minneapolis. i’ll be on a panel of discussants immediately following the performance from 8-9 pm.

a dvd entitled “stop snitching” features armed men threatening those who would roll over on others as police informants (e.g., “we got a lot of rats up here we wanna expose … it ain’t too many of ‘em, cause we deal with them”). stop snitching dvds and t-shirts quickly fanned outward from baltimore to pittsburgh, boston and elsewhere, fueled in part by the appearance of basketball player carmelo anthony in the video and entrepreneurs publicizing the phenomenon with sites such as stopsnitching.com.

i haven’t seen any t-shirts in the midwest, but the dvd has been a very hot topic on the east coast for the past year. in fact, the baltimore police even put together a short video response to stop snitching, titled keep talking.

volokh reports on the constitutionality of seizing stop snitching t-shirts and the ejection from courtrooms of those wearing them. the story also raises sociological questions about the use of informants, police-community relations, and violence as “self-help.” the phenomenon seems to be driven in part by law enforcement practices that rely increasingly on the use of informants. as the police have upped the pressure on informants, the “inform-ees” have applied countervailing pressure: violence and the threat of violence.

so, what’s the solution? large-scale use of snitches can be divisive to a community and jailhouse informants are notoriously inaccurate. still, witness intimidation and “street Justice” can be absolutely debilitating (in iraq as in baltimore). with regard to the video’s popularity, it has clearly tapped into the strained relationships between young african american men and law enforcement, as well as the continuing popularity of thug iconography.

on the latter point, i was struck by a recent picture of mr. anthony posing in what appeared to be his home office. he had distanced himself from stop snitching, saying: “I’m completely against violence and drugs — that’s not me… I’ve lost friends to violence. I would never support anybody harming anyone… I just want to help.” fair enough for the nba role model, but his role models appear to be a little more comfortable with violence. anthony was seated before two enormous framed mugshot portraits of john gotti and al capone. the photo was a mirror image of former madison police chief david couper’s office. couper, a minnesota sociology ph.d., had large posters of mahatma gandhi and martin luther king in his office. leave it to a madison cop to spruce up the office with the iconography of non-violence.

a dvd entitled “stop snitching” features armed men threatening those who would roll over on others as police informants (e.g., “we got a lot of rats up here we wanna expose … it ain’t too many of ‘em, cause we deal with them”). stop snitching dvds and t-shirts quickly fanned outward from baltimore to pittsburgh, boston and elsewhere, fueled in part by the appearance of basketball player carmelo anthony in the video and entrepreneurs publicizing the phenomenon with sites such as stopsnitching.com.

i haven’t seen any t-shirts in the midwest, but the dvd has been a very hot topic on the east coast for the past year. in fact, the baltimore police even put together a short video response to stop snitching, titled keep talking.

volokh reports on the constitutionality of seizing stop snitching t-shirts and the ejection from courtrooms of those wearing them. the story also raises sociological questions about the use of informants, police-community relations, and violence as “self-help.” the phenomenon seems to be driven in part by law enforcement practices that rely increasingly on the use of informants. as the police have upped the pressure on informants, the “inform-ees” have applied countervailing pressure: violence and the threat of violence.

so, what’s the solution? large-scale use of snitches can be divisive to a community and jailhouse informants are notoriously inaccurate. still, witness intimidation and “street Justice” can be absolutely debilitating (in iraq as in baltimore). with regard to the video’s popularity, it has clearly tapped into the strained relationships between young african american men and law enforcement, as well as the continuing popularity of thug iconography.

on the latter point, i was struck by a recent picture of mr. anthony posing in what appeared to be his home office. he had distanced himself from stop snitching, saying: “I’m completely against violence and drugs — that’s not me… I’ve lost friends to violence. I would never support anybody harming anyone… I just want to help.” fair enough for the nba role model, but his role models appear to be a little more comfortable with violence. anthony was seated before two enormous framed mugshot portraits of john gotti and al capone. the photo was a mirror image of former madison police chief david couper’s office. couper, a minnesota sociology ph.d., had large posters of mahatma gandhi and martin luther king in his office. leave it to a madison cop to spruce up the office with the iconography of non-violence.

Debra Jean Beasley
Alias: Debra J Beasley, Debbie Lafave, Debra Lafave, Debra Beasley Lafave

Sex Offender Bobby Beasley
Alias: Bobby Ray Beasley, Red Beasley

• she’s a teacher entrusted with middle school kids, which touches upon parents’ fears;
• the case is set against a backdrop of moral panic over (mostly) male sex offenders, particularly those who victimize children;
• at 14, the victim in this case was “only” two years from the median age at first intercourse for males;
• she has posed for calendars, which simultaneously validates her physical attractiveness and sexual desirability to males and makes for great television;
• and, in a society in which males are viewed as either sexual predators or protectors, we’re simply flummoxed by the idea of an adolescent male receiving “unwanted” sexual attention from an attractive young woman.

Debra Jean Beasley
Alias: Debra J Beasley, Debbie Lafave, Debra Lafave, Debra Beasley Lafave

Sex Offender Bobby Beasley
Alias: Bobby Ray Beasley, Red Beasley

• she’s a teacher entrusted with middle school kids, which touches upon parents’ fears;
• the case is set against a backdrop of moral panic over (mostly) male sex offenders, particularly those who victimize children;
• at 14, the victim in this case was “only” two years from the median age at first intercourse for males;
• she has posed for calendars, which simultaneously validates her physical attractiveness and sexual desirability to males and makes for great television;
• and, in a society in which males are viewed as either sexual predators or protectors, we’re simply flummoxed by the idea of an adolescent male receiving “unwanted” sexual attention from an attractive young woman.

the west coast blog muse alerts me to a seattle times story on crime and community. residents of the seattle south park neighborhood were upset about the putatively seedy county line bar and the drug sales and prostitution that surrounded it. rather than mobilize against the bar, however, they actually started drinking there. interesting idea, right? criminologists generally believe that even infrequent and informal neighboring can help reduce crime. in this case, residents are doing their neighboring on-site during community happy hours every monday.

if we are to believe the story, such meetings have coincided with crime reductions in the area. an earlier post-intelligencer story was more pessimistic, but featured this quote from organizer joel clement:

“It was time to show the proprietors that there’s an upside to that trend,” he said. “My theory is, crime tends to migrate toward sociocultural vacuums. So let’s fill the vacuum. And drinking a beer is not a lot of work on anybody’s part.”

i like the idea of at least attempting reintegrative rather stigmatizing sanctions — whether for individuals, bars, or other community institutions. my guess is that some of the worst stereotypes have likely been dispelled by the practice. nothing comes for free, of course, as “sociocultural vacuums” are in the eye of the beholder. most worrisome, seattle may have lost a great dive bar in the process. i’m guessing that the county line will have to bring in a golden tee golf machine, ferns, and heirloom balsamic goat cheese salads to keep the upscale residents coming back.

[photos by karen ducey in seattle post-intelligencer story]

the west coast blog muse alerts me to a seattle times story on crime and community. residents of the seattle south park neighborhood were upset about the putatively seedy county line bar and the drug sales and prostitution that surrounded it. rather than mobilize against the bar, however, they actually started drinking there. interesting idea, right? criminologists generally believe that even infrequent and informal neighboring can help reduce crime. in this case, residents are doing their neighboring on-site during community happy hours every monday.

if we are to believe the story, such meetings have coincided with crime reductions in the area. an earlier post-intelligencer story was more pessimistic, but featured this quote from organizer joel clement:

“It was time to show the proprietors that there’s an upside to that trend,” he said. “My theory is, crime tends to migrate toward sociocultural vacuums. So let’s fill the vacuum. And drinking a beer is not a lot of work on anybody’s part.”

i like the idea of at least attempting reintegrative rather stigmatizing sanctions — whether for individuals, bars, or other community institutions. my guess is that some of the worst stereotypes have likely been dispelled by the practice. nothing comes for free, of course, as “sociocultural vacuums” are in the eye of the beholder. most worrisome, seattle may have lost a great dive bar in the process. i’m guessing that the county line will have to bring in a golden tee golf machine, ferns, and heirloom balsamic goat cheese salads to keep the upscale residents coming back.

[photos by karen ducey in seattle post-intelligencer story]

sarah walker, a grad student in the minnesota political science department, sent word of two interesting conferences:

• a working papers conference on the penal state is planned for april 21-22 in berkeley, ca.
• a conference on america’s incarceration addiction will be meeting in chapel hill, nc on february 18.

both gather a strong group of scholars, activists, and other experts, reflecting a burgeoning research interest in criminal punishment.

sarah walker, a grad student in the minnesota political science department, sent word of two interesting conferences:

• a working papers conference on the penal state is planned for april 21-22 in berkeley, ca.
• a conference on america’s incarceration addiction will be meeting in chapel hill, nc on february 18.

both gather a strong group of scholars, activists, and other experts, reflecting a burgeoning research interest in criminal punishment.

i’m just back from the 2005 american society of criminology annual meetings in toronto. we had a fine conference at the royal york (though it was expensive for the student members) and near-record attendance. i love the meetings and the society has been a great home for me since my early grad school days. both meeting and society are less formal and more interdisciplinary than american sociological association gatherings: almost anyone who wants to get onto a session can get onto a session and they usually have some interesting things to say.

i’m currently the executive secretary of the organization, which means that i type board meeting minutes, scoop a lot of ice cream, and sign off on awards. plus, i really rake in the loot on secretary’s day. next year’s meetings will be held in los angeles, and the theme under new president gary lafree will be “democracy, crime, and Justice.” i’ll be organizing sessions on crime and politics, chairing an article award committee, and working on a long-term planning committee for the society. i’m hoping to reach out to non-asc members interested in voting, politics, and crime who might not otherwise attend the meetings. i’ll post more on this in spring, but if you would like to present a paper on this or another crime topic next november, you only need to submit an abstract by march to get on the program.