Crime & Punishment

***Bernie enjoyed her time behind bars.***

I’ve always read about crime . . . started reading newspapers, specifically the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, when I was young, in elementary school. The Sports section was, and still is, first, followed by the Metro section, I think it was/is called, same as the Local section in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which is my local paper these days. Doesn’t matter which paper, which city, I always read the “local” section, it’s where all of the nitty gritty crime and punishment details appear, not to mention car accidents as well.

So I’ve been reading newspapers for quite some time, daily or more than one in a day often. That’s a lot of crime--evil, confusing shit that people do, and a lot of prison sentences to go along. I hope but am not sure that the things people do are things they ultimately regret, even if the regret sprouts from the wrong seed.

For the life of me I cannot wrap my mind around a person hearing from a judge, “I sentence you to life in prison without the possibility of parole.” I mean, when you’re young, like 19, that’s just a ridiculous amount of time to be locked up as a prisoner. When you’re older, say 40, well, it really isn’t much better: You know what you’ll be missing.

Lately, in regard to crime and punishment in the newspaper, I’ve noticed myself glancing over these articles more and more. “Man Arrested for This,” “Woman Sentenced for This” and on and on, blah blah. Honestly, not much surprises me anymore when it comes to such things. More of it saddens me, though.

White collar crime—the Bernie Maidoff, Tom Petters, Denny Hecker—that stuff really kind of flips me out, though. I don’t understand and I fall completely on the other side, believing that money beyond covering your basic needs and a few simple pleasures can be the most overrated and poisonous substance known to humans, aside from alcohol and tobacco, which of course are legal only because of money. Talk about smoke and mirrors, the love of money.

These dudes, the ones with the dirty white collars, see money as a shining light to run and run and run toward, the light getting farther and farther the faster and faster you run toward it. 

"He dropped the mallet then the judge laughed." (Ice T, "Drama")