Bonnie and Clyde; Louisiana 1934
Posted 07-03-2014 at 01:32 PM by Fortoggie
It you have read the history of Louisiana during the depression you can almost understand why it produced a Bonnie and Clyde. It doesn't excuse them and still holds them guilty both under the law and under the standards of human decency. Yet when a society holds out so little hope and provides so little opportunity while embedding it's people in a state of dullness,terrible things happen.
Thousands more in La.,did crazy things to relieve their boredom,to break out of their skins to try and add some excitement to life. But Bonnie and Clyde stole the headlines as well as the money. The state had an old testament attitude toward dealing with crime and made little difference between the the stealing of a chicken or of a bank robbery.
In the latest movie Clyde and his brother had a man chasing them with a shot gun for stealing a chicken. Even today there are thousands of men in southern prisons for stealing less than it takes to keep them in prison for a week. The southern penal system tends to punish citizens more than, it does the perpetrator. A man steals $ 100.00 and he is tried and sent to jail and it costs the tax payers a 100 times as much to prosecute and to house him as the amount of money he stole. In addition the welfare system may end up supporting the family while he is away.
This suggests that we need to think much more deeply about our justice system.
Thousands more in La.,did crazy things to relieve their boredom,to break out of their skins to try and add some excitement to life. But Bonnie and Clyde stole the headlines as well as the money. The state had an old testament attitude toward dealing with crime and made little difference between the the stealing of a chicken or of a bank robbery.
In the latest movie Clyde and his brother had a man chasing them with a shot gun for stealing a chicken. Even today there are thousands of men in southern prisons for stealing less than it takes to keep them in prison for a week. The southern penal system tends to punish citizens more than, it does the perpetrator. A man steals $ 100.00 and he is tried and sent to jail and it costs the tax payers a 100 times as much to prosecute and to house him as the amount of money he stole. In addition the welfare system may end up supporting the family while he is away.
This suggests that we need to think much more deeply about our justice system.
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