Just what you’ve been waiting for, I’m sure! But seriously, the good people at Basic Books were kind enough to make me a website. Here it is, live and online.
I’m sitting in Newark Airport, heading to Mexico City for a week’s vacation. Don’t expect much here till I’m back.
PCM,
Won't any suggestion of bringing back flogging immediately bring to mind slavery and the use of the whip? One of the iconic images of the slave era is the picture of the slave and the scars on his back from repeated whippings. Won't many people, especially African-Americans, strongly disagree with the idea just because of the history of flogging in the US, and the racial demographics of the convicted offender population. Do you address this in your book?
Is flogging constitutional? Is it considered cruel and unusual punishment?
Are flogging and whipping the same?
Those are good questions. The first paragraph of questions I'll leave for later, but yes, I do address them in my book.
As to flogging being constitutional… it's never been banned by the court. So right now it is constitutional. And who knows what the current court would say. But it may be a moot point because as I propose it, nobody would be sentenced to flogging. It would be a choice to stay out of prison. And with the consent of the flogged, I don't know who could actually bring a lawsuit.
And there are some differences between flogging and whipping, but they're not important as far as my argument is concerned. I propose flogging like they do in Singapore, which is with a cane on the ass, mostly just because it lets me avoid having to reinvent the wheel.