Murder Case Photographs- #24

Murder Case Photographs-#24

(1953)


This scene is the inside of an African-American bar (note the Joe Louis and the Caucasian-ified woman advertisements on the wall). Prohibition is Exhibit #1 for our society's attempt at "legislating morality." Fair enough but if we could have successfully outlawed booze there would be a lot--a LOT--more people alive today. I would estimate--and this is just off the top of my head now--that 75% of the murders that I have handled in the past twenty-one years had something to do with alcohol or drugs: using and getting buzzed or selling and getting killed, somehow. Or if we outlawed men. That I can recall right now I only have had one female murder defendant among hundreds that I've handled. Maybe there's a couple more I'm forgetting but murder--and violent crime generally--is a guy thing. It amuses me sometimes and infuriates me others when someone says violent crime is largely an African-American thing. If we're going to make generalizations let's use the most impressive one: if there weren't guys there would be virtually no violent crime. I am Benjamin Harris.

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