Clarence Darrow in his “Address Delivered to the Prisoners in the Chicago County Jail,” presents a convincing argument for the complicity of society with the criminal. In essence, Darrow believes that when one man steals from another, the community is as culpable as the criminal, since no man who “already had plenty of money in his own pocket” (82) would risk his life and liberty to rob or steal from another. According to Darrow, the root of the problem lies in poverty and the hoarding of wealth by a handful of people who become rich by exploiting the poor through cheap labor, or by appealing to their vices.
It is interesting to note that during hard times crime increases. Particularly, periods of high inflation, or unusually cold winters. That’s when people cannot afford to pay high heating bills. Faced with no choices and an adverse situation, criminals literally “break into jail” (82) because it is better than being on the outside. Case in point: homeless people. I saw a homeless man in downtown LA, with a hospital band on his arm, deliberately provoke a security guard into calling the police. After the police arrived, the homeless man calmed down and quietly entered the squad car, cordially waving at the security guard. It was a cold rainy day. Clearly the homeless guy found L. A. County Jail preferable to the streets.
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Another example involves habitual criminals who become “institutionalized.” This point was poignantly dramatized in the movie “Shawshank Redemption.” The character played by Morgan Freeman contemplated suicide after release from prison because he had been institutionalized for so long that he no longer had coping skills for the outside world. That is, until offered a real “chance to live” (83) by his fello…
…would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all deeds in the fullness of light? Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen are but one man standing in twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the day of his god-self. And that the corner-stone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation” (46-47).
The criminal is not solely responsible for his crime. There is much truth in the maxim “No man is an island. No man stands alone. Each man is my brother. Each man is my friend.” WORKS CITED
Bland, Bobby “Blue” “Poverty” Epic Records, 1967Burr, John R. and Milton Goldinger, “Philosophy and Contemporary Issues (Prentice Hall) 1995.Gibran, Kahlil “The Prophet” (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.) 1997. Pages 42-47.Hugo, Victor “Les Miserables”Miller, Alice “For Your Own Good” (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) 1990.
