Submitted by: Jamie Longazel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, John Jay College
“Clarence Darrow’s resume as an attorney is vast and eclectic. Here, as he speaks directly to a group of prisoners, he raises fundamental questions about morality and justice in the context of crime and punishment. To me, this is a must-read for any student of criminology and/or law, as it challenges us to ‘delink’ what is considered “legal / illegal” from assessments of what is “moral / immoral.” Who is really doing the most social harm? Are they being punished? Who does the criminal justice system actually serve?” (Comment by Longazel, 2019)
Click here to read online: Crime and Criminals: Address to the Prisoners in the Chicago Jail by Clarence Darrow
Darrow’s Crime & Criminals, originally published 1902 is a little masterpiece in the literature of social criticism and the struggle for freedom. Darrow offers the man in the street – or more precisely in this case, in jail – a crash course in the theory and practice of law and criminology. He discusses what crime is, what causes it, why more people go to jail in winter than in summer, why the real criminals almost never go to prison, why punishment doesn’t work, and – in the end – why the US criminal justice system is in fact a system of injustice, a colossal and barbaric failure. Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) is most well known for his role in the Scopes and Leopold-Loeb trials, but he also defended Eugene Debs, Big Bill Haywood and many other labor, antiwar and civil rights cases.
“Realizing the force of the suggestion that the truth should not be spoken to all people, I have caused these remarks to be printed on rather good paper and in a somewhat expensive form. In this way the truth does not become cheap and vulgar, and is only placed before those whose intelligence and affluence will prevent their being influenced by it.” —Clarence Darrow
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