bridgingthegap

The Informant System
Many people in society today do not realise that Informant systems have been an integral part of
societies in history. They are as old as the Roman Empire, they were used in the British Empire and it's
colonies and these Informant systems are now so pervasive they are an ingrained part of many
democratic and non democratic countries alike.
The Snitching System.
The history of the snitch is long and inglorious, dating to the common law. In old
England, snitches were ubiquitous.Their motives, then as now, were unholy. In the 18th
Century, Parliament prescribed monetary rewards-blood money-for snitches, who were
turned back onto the streets where they were, in the words of one contemporary
commentator,the contempt and terror of society.
The system produced a cycle of betrayal in which each snitch knew he might find
himself soon in the dock confronted by another snitch.
The snitch system probably arrived in the New World with the Pilgrims.The first
documented wrongful conviction case in the United States involved a snitch.The case
arose in Manchester, Vermont, in 1819. Brothers Jesse and Stephen Boorn were
suspected of killing their brother-in-law, Russell Colvin. Jesse was put into a cell with a
forger, Silas Merrill, who would testify that Jesse confessed. Merrill was rewarded with
freedom.
The Boorn brothers were convicted and sentenced to death but saved from the gallows
when Colvin turned up alive in New Jersey. 14
With the advent of modern day society can we assume that the Snitching System became obsolete, or
would it be better to rightfully conclude that it was and still is an integral part of society and as
relevant today as it was yesterday? It is also just as much a concern for this time period as it has been
in others? What many in society do not realise is that many governments have spent years perfecting
these systems.
In his book Snitch Culture, journalist Jim Redden focuses on the use of Informants, and how pervasive
the practice has become in todays society. He points out that it's very easy for someone to be set up, or
accused of a crime and all it takes is the word of an Informant. The book was written almost a decade
ago, but has become even more relevant then ever, in today's modern society.
large segments of the population live in fear - a fear created and exploited by
opportunistic politicians and power-hungry law enforcement officials to justify the most
sophisticated police state ever created.
And at the heart of this nightmare is the snitch, the government's weapon of choice
against criminals and law-abiding citizens alike.15
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