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Fringe Criticisms of Snitching Tread Dangerous Ground

By Gritsforbreakfast

But if you're talking 'bout destructionDon't you know that you can count me out.- "Revolution," The BeatlesLong-time readers know I've never been a fan of the "Stop Snitching" mantra (although I think its popularity portends tremendous political and sociological implications). I don't believe it's possible or wise to 100% eliminate the tactic of "flipping" informants from law enforcement's repertoire.The problems arise because coerced informants have become a major source of police corruption and the second leading cause of wrongful convictions. To me, a more effective rhetorical and strategic approach would focus on identifying policy changes to reduce or mitigate bad outcomes from police reliance on criminal informants.Here are two more grass roots political responses to snitching that take approaches toward the problem I disagree with, even if I may share some of the participants' goals:First, the Whosarat database (discussed earlier on Grits here, here, here and here), has offered a $500 bounty for the "most interesting" informant case:Who?s A Rat (www...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 11, 2008 (boomark / email).