Lower the Crime Rate
Crime is born out of poverty and the miseries of capitalism. An index of oppression can’t be ignored by socialists.
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- Issue 43
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Lower the Crime Rate
Distress due to poverty gives the worker only the choice of starving slowly, killing himself quickly, or taking what he needs where he finds it — in plain English, stealing. And it is not surprising that the majority prefer to steal rather than starve to death or commit suicide.
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Front Matters
Opening Statement
Letters + Internet Speaks
Working through your issues in the comments section.
A Death Sentence for Disorderly Conduct
The story of Shali Tilson, a 22-year-old who died from dehydration at a jail in Georgia.
It’s Not Just the Drug War
The prison reforms on the table are unlikely to make even a dent in the forces that keep millions behind bars.
Reading Materiel
The Rap Sheet
Did Liberals Give Us Mass Incarceration?
The United States managed its violence on the cheap — through police and prisons instead of social welfare.
Cultural Capital
Cleaver by Christopher Moltisanti
Everywhere Grime in America, Terrible Time in America
Forget the parodies — West Side Story was an epic musical about gang violence that was as hard-hitting as it was stunning.
Planned Paranoia
There’s a reason why urban housing developments and suburban subdivisions can seem threatening and unwelcoming to outsiders: they’re planned that way, in order to “design out crime.”
Breaking up the Party
Britain is rightly known for its multicultural popular music — but these musical styles have frequently emerged in the face of legal attempts to suppress them.
Did the LAPD Kill the Notorious B.I.G.?
Criminal police officers ran law enforcement in 1990s Los Angeles — and they may have a story to tell.
The Tumbrel
Wall Street Superpredators
The Devil Goes to Preschool
In 1983, journalists helped conjure a nationwide sex panic.
Communists Against the Mafia
The battle against the Sicilian Mafia wasn’t waged by cops and judges — it was waged by communists and labor militants.
The Real Burglars Aren’t Wearing Masks
Across the country and across industries, employers steal billions from workers each year. Minimum wage violation — the act of paying workers below the legal limit — is just one form of wage theft, but it results in at least $15 billion in lost wages annually. In 2015, minimum wage violations cost workers more than all robberies, burglaries, larcenies, and motor vehicle thefts combined.
Leftovers
Out on Bail
Barbies and Bullets
In Colombia and around the world, right-wing paramilitaries and traffickers have adopted a populist feint to win over the communities they terrorize.
New York’s Cop Coup
In 1993, New York had its first black mayor — and Rudy Giuliani stirred up a police riot at City Hall.
Jacobin Does Crime
We’re running short on funds. Jacobin troll Donald Hughes wants to help.
