Crime and Prestige (2)

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Many years have passed since that encounter, but I don’t think I’ll ever get the image out of my head of a Congressional candidate urgently counseling deference to a felon.  Or, for that matter, of Rocco cutting a swath in the dance-floor crowd, like some latter-day Moses parting the Red Sea.

These are images of a world turned upside down.  They are also about as clear evidence as you might hope to find of why prisons don’t accomplish much.

I’m sure Rocco didn’t look forward to going to prison, and I’m sure the time he spent there was different in many ways from a Caribbean cruise.  But it turned out to have been an awfully good investment of time for him.  When he got out, he had status.  It was as if society had hung a sign around his neck, reading "Officially Certified Bad Dude—DON'T MESS."

I don’t know what else could have gotten Rocco accorded as much status as that.  Certainly running for Congress couldn’t.

I also don’t pretend to know all that it would take to change the inverted patterns of deference I found in the bar that evening.

But I’m pretty sure that until we address and change the attitudes that went into this peculiar interaction, any thoughts we might have about cutting back on crime are likely to remain in the realm of wishful thinking.

© COPYRIGHT 1998 ROBERT WINTER.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.