The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy by Sowell Thomas

Author:Sowell, Thomas [Sowell, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Perseus Book Group-A
Published: 1996-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

Criminals

For at least 200 years, those with the vision of the anointed have been claiming that criminals have been misunderstood by the public and mistreated by the law. A product of social circumstances and societal failures, criminals should not be punished but rehabilitated, according to this view, found in such eighteenth-century figures as Condorcet and Godwin.34 In addition to questioning the morality of punishing people for circumstances beyond their control, the anointed tend to believe that punishment does not work but that rehabilitation does. This belief is part of a wider pattern among the anointed of emphasizing dispositions rather than incentives, whether discussing criminals, international diplomacy, or child rearing.

The conclusions of those with this vision are as logical as the opposite conclusions of those with the tragic vision. It is the imperviousness of the anointed to any argument or evidence, and their readiness to dismiss and condemn those with different views, which have made criminals mascots symbolizing the superiority of the anointed. An episode in San Jose, California, illustrates this mind-set. The federally funded Alternatives to Incarceration program sent selected imprisoned criminals to colleges to complete their sentences there instead of behind bars. After a series of rapes at San Jose State University, the city’s police chief discovered that imprisoned rapists had been released to that institution and that “convicted felons routinely stalked women in dark streets in the vicinity of the university in downtown San Jose.”35 What is revealing is the response when he expressed his concern to the director of this particular project:When I complained, the project director said the “clients” were screened and that California had declared it an exemplary program. Actually, we later found out that the program screened applicants only on the basis of academic scores. Federal rules prevented consideration of their criminal records. And California had declared the program exemplary only because it submitted quarterly reports on time.

When my complaints about the program became public, I was censured by the students and faculty and advised by my superiors in city hall to go easy. After all, this was an exemplary, federally funded program to reduce recidivism.36

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