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Wednesday, February 4, 2009
News Eric Schlosser visits Davidson College for lecture
Posted By Anita Overcash on Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 1:07 PM
The Deal: Award-winning investigative journalist and author Eric Schlosser, known for his bestselling book Fast Food Nation, visited Davidson College for the 2009 Renyolds Lecture. Schlosser discussed problems and consequences due to the prison boom over the last 25 years in the United States. He will explore these topics in his forthcoming book about the American prison system.
The Good: Schlosser began by making it clear that he believes folks who commit violent crimes, including murderers, sex offenders and armed robbers should be behind bars. He then went on to explain that the number of people in prison far outweighs the number of those who commit violent crimes. So who is being locked up? Schlosser says the poor, the uneducated, substance abusers and the metally ill make up the rest of those imprisoned throughout the United States. He also pointed out that many women are behind bars because they are victims of abuse or of illegal activities related to their spouses or boyfriends, and that more African-American men are convicted of drug crimes, despite the fact that both black and white men use around the same amount of drugs. Schlosser criticized the social policies toward the poor and dysfuntional being locked away. He believes the prison system is functioning as a kind of low income housing and he pointed out that prisons medical staff needs help, due to the number of mental patients behind bars. In addition, drug treatment is not readily available to those who are imprisoned and need it. He described prison as being a "huge revolving door" and he believes many of those who enter come out far worse than when they arrived.
The Bad: Not a thing. Whether or not you agreed with Schlosser, he was objective throughout the discussion. At times, he countered his own arguments in order to make sure that his points were being fair.
The Verdict: I can't wait to read his book. Schlosser made some good points during the lecture. He ended by saying "What we need is simple change; less greed and more compassion."
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