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Tag: In Defense of Flogging

  • A Q & A

    In the Crime Report:

    The Crime Report:A lot of people have compared your book to Jonathan Swift’s essay, “A Modest Proposal.” But Swift’s work was pure satire, where yours is an honest look at a possible alternative punishment. Does the comparison frustrate you, or is it apt?
    Peter Moskos:Neither. I like the comparison. True, I don’t think Swift was really proposing eating babies; (while) I am seriously proposing giving the choice of being flogged. But I do see the book primarily as a thought experiment, having a little intellectual fun. In that sense, I think it is somewhat like “A Modest Proposal.” My book isn’t a satire, but I am trying to address real issues and be a bit provocative. So it’s not a crazy analogy.

  • The Right Choice

    I like this line from Time Magazine:

    Reading In Defense of Floggingis a lot like reading Woody Allen’s classic “My Speech to the Graduates,” in which he declares, “More than at any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

  • “I mean this in the most flattering way…”

    A friend and former roommate writes:

    By the way, and I mean this in the most flattering way – In Defense of Flogging: great toilet read!

    Coming from him, I know it isa sincere compliment.

    He says he’s averaging 10 pages a day, not that I asked, and not that he used the word “day.”

  • God Bless The Economist

    God Bless The Economist

    For their review:

    Imagine that you–or, if you prefer, a younger, more reckless version of you–committed a crime.
    …
    And say you were offered a choice: you could either spend those years behind bars, or you could get ten lashes.
    …
    You may think flogging is barbaric, but is there any question which you would choose if you could? According to Peter Moskos, a sociologist whose previous book, “Cop in the Hood”, detailed his year spent as a Baltimore beat cop: “If flogging were really worse than prison, nobody would choose it.”

    The modern American prison system evolved as an alternative to flogging: penitentiaries were designed to “cure” prisoners of their criminality—to render them penitent—rehabilitating them into productive members of society. On this score, as on most others, it has failed.
    …
    “We build prisons for people we’re afraid of and fill them with people we’re mad at.”
    …
    Brutal and archaic it may be, but Mr Moskos convincingly argues that America’s prison system is at least as inhumane.
    …
    Perhaps the most damning evidence of the broken American prison system is that it makes a proposal to reinstate flogging appear almost reasonable. Almost.

    Now will you buy my book?

  • Buy my book, damnit!

    If you’re reading this, you’re in the good company of about 400 others.

    If you’re reading this, you probably have at least someinterest in what I write.

    But here’s the thing, if you’re reading this, you probably have not bought my book, In Defense of Flogging.

    Yeah, I’m calling you out. How, you may ask, do I knowyou haven’t bought my book? Because according to BookScan, my book hasn’t sold200 copies! Last week my book seems to have sold, get this, 30 actual physical copies. You know what makes it worse, I bought 20 of them!

    So do your part and buy my book. If not, I don’t know, you’ll have to read more posts like this.

    [p.s. If you’re in Canada or bought an electronic version, you’re off the hook. These don’t count in the total.]

  • In Salon

    Here’s an interview about flogging featured in Salon.com.

  • In lieu of prison, bring back the lash

    I have an op-ed in the Washington Post:

    Suggest adding the whipping post to America’s system of criminal justice and most people recoil in horror. But offer a choice between five years in prison or 10 lashes and almost everybody picks the lash. What does that say about prison?

    Read the whole article here.

  • Five Year, or Ten Lashes?

    Josh Rothman writes in the Boston Globe:

    His book is, as promised, a well-reasoned defense of flogging. It’s also an attack upon the penal system.
    …
    It’s hard to say how serious Moskos is being (though my money is on “pretty serious”). Even if you aren’t convinced that flogging is the future, though, Moskos’ deeper argument is still compelling.

  • Oh, Canada

    Macleans, the Canadian news magazine, has a great article and Q&A with me. There’s some very good new material here, even if you think you’re heard everything I have to say about In Defense of Flogging. What is it about the Canadians? Why are their articles smarter and more insightful than ours? And they are awfully nice people. I mean, there must be some bad Canadians out there, but I’ve never met one.

    They also have health care, a homicide rate that is a fraction of ours, and many fewer people in prison. (Though, as I learned in the interview, they might be about to go on a US-inspired prison building boom.)

  • Defense of Flogging

    Defense of Flogging

    After 15 (count ’em) radio interviews today, I have one tomorrow on Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd.

    Thursday, June 9, 2011, 9:00PM, New York time.

    I mention this because

    1) He asked me to.

    And 2) it will also be done on Second Life. I like to think I’m tech savvy, but I’m a little confused by the concept. But the software is on my computer and I am a quick learner.

    Update: OK. I’ve learned a bit, thanks to a kind personalized walk-through. I bought some shoes and, er, skin. I also ditched the tie.

    To just listen to the interview, this is the url for BlogTalkRadio: http://bit.ly/kaVliS.

    But here’s what it looks like in Second Life, which is much cooler.

    Here’s me chillin’, thinking, “we’ll never fill this barn.”


    And me, making sure the seat is comfortable.


    See you tomorrow!

    More Info:

    From within Second Life, you can use this url.

    And if the rest makes sense, good on ya’. And no, I do not offer tech support.

    Join the conversation with IRC (internet relay chat) Simple!

    1. Before or during a program, connect to http://webchat.freenode.net/
    2. Give yourself a name.
    3. Enter #vspeak into the channel field.
    4. NOTE: ‘Relay Rinq’ is not a person but a bridge to IRC chat.
    5. While listening to a live program on BlogTalkRadio, type comments and questions into the text field. Read what others write.
    6. Begin your question with ‘QUESTION’ so it’s easy for the host to spot. and/or:

    Join the Studio Audience in Second Life

    1. Download a Phoenix viewer: http://www.phoenixviewer.com/downloads.php
    2. Create a free account @ secondlife.com (pass on their viewer)
    3. Orientation: learn to drive your avatar. Type the link into chat, select enter then double click: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/128/128/23
    4. Use SL search to find and join two groups: Virtually Speaking and Phoenix Viewer Support. Find and use the orientation at Virtual Ability Island.