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Notes -
I mean. In 1955, in a lot of cities? A White cop could basically get away with murdering that Black 13-year-old. A dropped gun, a statement that the kid had pulled it, and nobody really asks any questions. I'll grant that some of this might have been cops covering up a tragic, honest mistake, of the "I confused a wallet for a pistol" variety, but a hell of a lot was just shooting fleeing people in the back or shooting them for contempt of cop.
Nice, liberal people want their violence hidden; if it just so happens that 13-year-old juvenile delinquents are sometimes never seen or heard from again, and there is a strong suspicion that it is the local police department doing it...people can unfortunately look the other way. And that's a damn shame: frustrated cops as judge, jury, and executioner.
Like. Someone is going to want to do something about this problem. The prison-industrial complex is expensive; unlike slavery, a prisoner can't make enough off of making license plates (or whatever it is they have them doing) to pay for what it costs to keep him locked up. Bullets are unfortunately cheap.
Someone mentioned farm labor, and that seems like it wouldn't be a bad idea either. Certainly not if they're with migrant farm workers (instead of other juvenile delinquents). Three months picking strawberries because you carjacked some dude at 13 might get you to straighten up.
EDIT: To be clear, I do not think that extrajudicial killings of criminals are at all a good idea. Nice, liberal people don't like violence, but if it must happen they want it well-hidden; they'd be very much against said extrajudicial killings but could look the other way most of the time, I think. Most of us would've been good Germans. I'll stand by what I think cops could've gotten away with in 1955.
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