A poetic social construction of crime

Oscar Wilde and his lover, Alfred Douglas,
prior to his trial in 1894

As we each slink off to our weekends, I am publishing the poem below, written by Criminonymous. You can find another piece here, published on Anna Raccoon a few days ago.  No need for me to add any more; the strength of the piece speaks for itself. 

The only thing we have to blame is blame itself

I fail to see what we gain from blaming the individual

The working class criminal whose education was minimal

Some see their behaviour as indefensible

That the casual accrual of wealth through unconventional or deviant methods

Demeans the tax-paying, hard-working and indebted

If it were only explained more clearly in schools

That it’s just a few tools

Who monopolise the making and enforcement of rules

Why do we assume that the criminal law is the best way to respond to these issues?

Crime is a social construction

Should homosexuality be a crime?

Obviously, obviously not

But some countries still consider it as such

Do you think that alcohol should be criminalised?

These things vary over space and time

It is wrong to assume that the laws as they stand

Are based on rational calculations

Nor should it be assumed

That the direction in which the criminal law is currently headed

Is necessarily in the long-term interests of society as a whole

Some people see ‘criminals’ as totally different to them

When they think about crime

They remember what they have seen in the media

They immediately think about the most heinous of transgressions

But this is only a tiny fraction of what ‘crime’ really entails

Incidentally, many of these people are swing voters

The central focus of modern-day locusts

But when elections are based on fear

There is no incentive to ensure that our electorate is educated

And this lack of knowledge is perpetuated

In reality, all are equally likely to be caught up in something this forlorn

Because you have no control over where or when you are born

Some people truly believe that they had immunity

Thinking: “They are not us, so they deserve no impunity”

But we were all born in the same world, without equality of opportunity

Substitute assumed fallacies for humanity

It’s safe to say that we’re pretty lucky

I could have been born in Kentucky

Home to sixteen of the one hundred poorest counties in that country

Equally, the Queen is lucky not to be an Armenian from 1915

Got any pre-teens?

Elsewhere they make green jeans for the armies

Like Akala said, as hard as some of us have it

We’re still far better off than ninety per-cent of the planet

It is totally understandable that in this environment of propaganda

People make false assumptions about crime and justice

We don’t get to decide what counts as a crime

When the law should change its mind

Or where our priorities should lie

Nor are these decisions made well for us

So forget your anxiety regarding impropriety

And consider the long-term interests of our society

Criminonymous