Land of the free

Land of the free

”I don’t like the term crime—it’s such a big, fat, imprecise word. There are only unwanted acts. How we perceive them depends on our relationship with those who carry them out. If a teenager swipes a wallet, we call it a crime. If he snakes a twenty from his dad, it’s a family issue. Locking up the pickpocket only sets him up to learn worse tricks from hardened thugs.”

– Nils Christie, kriminolog

Nils Christie: Empty the Prisons – Wired