Crimes and Punishments: In the 21st Century

By:

Dr. Michael Wood

Designed by Dr. Michael Wood

Introduction by Roberto E. Alejandro, Ph.D. JD

Assisted by Jessica Wood

Assisted by Andrew Ross

Copyright 2020 iMemberMedia/Wood Family

All Rights Reserved

License Notes

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Table of Contents

The Business of Policing: Volume I: Crimes and Punishments in the 21st Century

2020 Update

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction to the Reader

Introduction to the Author

An Essay on Violations and Social Contracts

Chapter 1: Reality

Chapter 2: Free Will and Autonomy

Chapter 3: Punishments

Chapter 4: The Desire to Punish

Chapter 5: Consequences of Foregoing Principles

Chapter 6: The Interpretation of Laws

Chapter 7: The Obscurity of Laws

Chapter 8: The Proportion Between Violations and Amends

Chapter 9: Estimating the Degree of Violations

Chapter 10: Suicide and its Assistance

Chapter 11: The Divisions of Violations

Chapter 12: Respect

Chapter 13: Interpersonal Combat

Chapter 14: Violations to Public Order

Chapter 15: Consensual Adult Agreements

Chapter 16: The Intent of Amends

Chapter 17: The Credibility of Witnesses

Chapter 18: Evidence and the Proofs of Violation, and the Form of Adjudication

Chapter 19: Interviews and Interrogations

Chapter 20: Secret Accusations

Chapter 21: Torture

Chapter 22: Amends for Monetary Damages

Chapter 23: Oaths and Pledges

Chapter 24: Expeditious Amends

Chapter 25: Violent Offenses

Chapter 26: The Amends of the Elites

Chapter 27: Shame, Considered as Amends

Chapter 28: Banishment and Confiscations

Chapter 29: Idleness

Chapter 30: The Social Bond

Chapter 31: The Severity of Amends

Chapter 32: The Punishment of Death

Chapter 33: Imprisonment

Chapter 34: Prosecution and Sentencing

Chapter 35: Complex Cases

Chapter 36: Violations Against the State

Chapter 37: Bankruptcy

Chapter 38: Sanctuaries

Chapter 39: Bounties and Rewards for Offender Apprehension

Chapter 40: Attempts, Accomplices, and Pardons

Chapter 41: The Means of Preventing Crime

Chapter 42: Boards of Directors

Chapter 43: Incentives and Investment

Chapter 44: Education

Chapter 45: Weapons and Gun Control

Chapter 46: Conclusion

Bonus Content

Appendix A: We Know How to Fix Policing in America. We Do.

Appendix B: The Chicago Police Reform Essays

Appendix C: The NFL is NOT Unpatriotic or Racist

Appendix D: Select Tweets 2012-2016

Appendix E: A Cop’s Thoughts on Philando Castile

Appendix F: It Ain’t So Simple

Appendix G: Trump, Police, and the Rest of Us

Back Matter

About Dr. Michael Wood (Jr.)

Other writings by Dr. Michael Wood (Jr.)

Connect with Dr. Michael Wood (Jr.)

References

2020 Update

Welcome. That you take an interest in these topics and read this work, gives me great hope that we will improve our social systems and thinking when it comes to policing and corrections. So, thank you for being here.

In this update, I have attempted to soften some of the verbiages from the style of Beccaria’s inspirational work and distinguish this work from the myriad of other titles containing the terms crimes and punishments. The most common critique I have heard in the nearly three years of publication is that the tone and structure feel unfamiliar and this difficult to follow as we tend to not write like in the past. I tend to disagree with that assessment, but I am the worst person to make that judgment. The audience is always correct.

Personally and generally speaking, I think that understanding humanity and the societies we create is both complex and challenging to the learner. Diving deep into the underpinnings of any field is complicated, but the social science and most particularly ones that affect us or we create. Emotions become entrenched in the cycle. We can simultaneously feel desperate to improve state authority that can take our freedoms while defending state authority because it is the child of the ancestors we love. Currently, it seems to me that we will exercise a positive bias that we won’t be affected and take comfort in the idea that armed men will seek vengeance on our behalf when we are wronged.

I feel this long legacy of providing comfort to the public daily. This taxpayer has invested millions in ensuring I am capable of seeking vengeance for them. One must embrace violence, be cool during a tragedy, absorb trauma without repercussion, compartmentalize their personalities, slush through the blood of humanity at its worst, and then help a kitten from a tree. All the while being a normal person in society because when they don’t have vengeance to be enacted, the monster they created is something they don’t want to see or hear from. Of course, this is until the truth comes back around that they want us on that wall, they need us on that wall.

My work is a small exemplification of this human truth. Those who have been harmed by the system reach out to me and those like to me and think we can help, but this is not a battle we can win. This is a battle only you can win and I have no idea how. Those of you who have been or seen victimization from the system are likely to find every reason to absorb the following pages of this book. Those of you who have been victimized by people and had us seek vengeance on your behalf or feel comfort that we will seek vengeance for you, are likely to find every reason to not absorb the following pages. In the paradox quickly reveal in Chapter 2, the choice is yours.

Foreword

If every individual be bound to society, society is equally bound to him, by a contract, which, from its nature, equally binds both parties. - C. Beccaria

Of the sources informing America’s early formation, an essay on crime and punishment from an 18th-century Italian nobleman might seem an unlikely source for understanding the U.S. Constitution. America’s so-called Founding Fathers did nothing to hide their admiration and influence of Beccaria. The respect contributed to sowing the seeds of an oppressive criminal justice system in the United States, due to some of Beccaria's false premises. When philosophies are sown into the crafting of an entity, their influence becomes part of the environment. The 21st-century words of Professor Sean L. Green, a vocal proponent of Beccaria’s philosophies, demonstrates the long-lasting and authoritative assumption of their value:

On Crimes and Punishments [Dei delitti e delle pene] is one of the greatest treatises in the democratic tradition, a testament to human freedom and social justice. For students of law or political theory (of which I am one), this is an excellent account of some of the fundamental principles of democratic society and jurisprudence. Anyone who holds public office should be forced to read this book at gunpoint.

Green suggests compelling compliance through the threat of lethal force [or violence] with the same casual air the Old Testament takes in describing fetuses being ripped from their mothers' wombs. A reliance on and praising of static policies rooted in the past establishes a guarantee that those in power will remain in control. The premises of punishment and appealing to authorities of history are destructive to the social bond. As we should have realized from centuries of failed policy, punishment does not work in any modern context. If it ever did work, it was in a dramatically different environment and past. Proper maintenance of the social contract requires frameworks that grow and adapt to the changing conditions and structures that operate with an informed knowledge of the functioning of the human beings the contract attempts to organize. There is unlikely to be any particular policy that we should reasonably expect our great-great-great-great-great grandchildren to be governed by and that is a mere 100 years in the future, like slavery.

Some of Beccaria’s thoughts are rooted in the human element and remain of extreme value, especially in the face of the evolution of Beccaria’s principles in practice. Recognizably interlaced throughout the Continental Congress’ documents that established American governance are core human realities that are likely to transcend the foreseeable future. Despite many long-lasting truths, the context of the period in history is critical in the philosophes of societal codification. Over time, the principles of Beccaria which were integrated into the core of American principles, have had mixed results. America no longer applies the following principles:

It is tyranny to rule over another’s actions unless absolutely necessary

Members of the society are bound to that society, requiring that society is bound to its members.

Societies such as the state, nation, or community should only institute laws to unify the society members continually.

Be wary of accusations made in private, confidential informants and the like, sow the seeds of treachery and distrust.

Avoid influence or immunity in exchange for testimony; it is sanctioned treachery.

Laws shall not be interpreted, especially by judges, else the rule is that of judges, not society.

Laws are to be applied and enforced equally, regardless of power, influence, or class.

Some of the principles were compromised:

The preservation of life is a superior right to the societal right of property protection.

Members of the society shall be tried only by a jury of peers under the presumption of innocence.

The primary role of the courts is to establish guilt; the second role is to administer penalties in consideration of circumstances.

Some of the principles were lost:

Power comes from the whole of the people, not elite classes.

Independent of influence, the free press is the guardian and gatekeeper of the voice of the citizens.

Members of the society shall be free from restriction when in violation of no law.

And some of the principles are dangerous:

Laws and legislation are about creating the best outcomes for the most people, the greatest happiness of the greatest number with minimal misery.

This essay pays a purposeful homage to Beccaria and is an evolution of the thoughts of the giants on which we all stand. In the United States, Thomas Jefferson is widely considered one of those giants. Beccaria’s influence on Jefferson is of note:

Jefferson said that America's government was to be found, not on classes of people as in Europe, but on single, named individuals who would have to earn privileges and entitlements through agreements and pursuant to their responsive actions as specified in the agreements. Privileges, therefore, had to be earned by each individual, and the government had to recognize each individual who earned the specific privilege. But privileges, earned by single individuals, could not be transferred to other individuals through means such as heredity.

Jefferson rejected the establishment of such a society within the United States. In refuting that European practice of heredity, Jefferson based himself on principles enumerated by Beccaria, who said that laws should be made mild so that every individual would be equal in the face of those laws. Beccaria, therefore, became the sole inspiration to Jefferson's intent to create laws aimed at individuals and not at classes of people.

Unalienable rights are neither earned nor unearned; they are inherent to every individual regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or social standing. All other rights, privileges, or entitlements are either earned or not earned pursuant to the fulfillment of agreements based on performances.

It was not uncommon to equate societal happenings to contracts defined in economic terms and structure. Insurance companies have no option other than to reduce everything to financial conditions, even life. There is a truth here that remains and is argued for as the basis of legislation being the expression of our social contracts. There are always benefits and consequences to a community, and these must be weighed out.

An additional philosophy of Beccaria adopted by Jefferson was the dangerous maximize happiness adage mentioned previously. The base principle of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of citizens is foundationally corrupt. The understandable thinking that the ideal measure is the fewest of poor and oppressed leaves the door wide open for classification into groups of the happy and groups of the oppressed. Uncoincidentally, this weakness played out in the evolution of American society.

Other weaknesses such as broken windows policing are readily accepted into a society which was premised a flawed interpretation. Broken windows policing is mainly attributed to being an ill-fated adaption of a fact of social deterioration/treatment, but the seeds of the ideology influenced many of the founding fathers. In Beccaria’s translated words:

The public punishment, therefore, of small crimes, will make a greater impression, and, by deterring men from the smaller, will effectually prevent the greater.

The influence of these words is evident in the general mindset of punishment and crime. Many of Beccaria's principles influenced the founding philosophies and founding documents of the United States of America. If one of those influences was on gun control, then much light is shed on what the intent of those men was.

Introduction to the Reader

The evolution of laws and their processes has led us to further understanding of what drives humanity and its organization. The particulars of any system are influenced by its circumstances, but the principles of what works will work everywhere. Human, remains the keyword in human organization, and that is what society is. Human organization and governance are the administration of that society’s rules.

The legislation of laws has come from a variety of forms, and more are still to come. Some version of democracy, republic, monarchy, communism, or dictatorship has taken up much of contemporarily discussed governmental structures. There is no intent for this to be a detailed argument over government procedure. Instead, this writing is an inquiry of truth derived from a lifelong pursuit of why. Alas, a cruel aspect of the quest for truth is that eventually, you know enough to know how little you know. All you will ever know for sure is that which does not work.

It has been long held, and remains true in many societies, that the principles behind the laws for regulating human societal code were sourced by revelation, natural law, or the social bonds of our communities. Much confused discussion and debate have attempted to shepherd the conflicts of the three to minimal public consensus. There is nothing rare about the inability to see the readily apparent. The three principles are an irrational proposition because of their flawed premises.

Social bonds are the social constructs human beings establish to work in cooperative partnerships and to make sense of their world. Revelation is information from above, and there are no divine statutes or known mechanisms for their sourcing. Natural law is the rational nature of humans or a vague good and evil concept. There is no sensible nature of people, good and evil, or immutable principles, everything is subjective, and we know this when the edict to not kill is an accepted violation in self-defense and public safety circumstances. Revelation and natural law are social constructs within the social bonds. There are only the social bonds we create, and there is the objective reality.

Those social bonds are also the source of political and moral principles. Individual and traditional tenets are inevitably held, but to codify the group laws, they matter not. For the group, policies must come from critical inquiry, best practices, exploration, collective knowledge, and critique. With principles of such origin, legislation can improve the social bonds of community. We are human beings who are incentivized to behaviors by the social constructs of our systems and institutions.

Justice is exemplary of one of the social constructs that plaques the definition attempts from scholars and streets. The prevailing sense of justice has come to be revenge plus equality. The burn for vengeance is laced in tradition and is rational from the individual. For the