Summary Of The Undercover Parent By Harlen Coben

Harlen Coben, in an essay in The New York Times, “The Undercover Parent” (March 16, 2008) asserts that parents should install spyware on their children’s computers in order to protect children from the dangers of the internet. Coben claims that because what a child does on the internet is public, as a parent you have the right to view it as well, so we should be monitoring them in this area as well. However, Coben does admit that this is indeed an invasion of privacy, but that in order to be a good parent we must do so to protect our children from pedophiles and bullies that lure on the internet. Coben attempts to educate parents about the dangers the internet poses to children, and how spyware can be an effective solution to our need to protect our kids.
Jacoby argues that because our current preference for punishing crime through imprisonment is too costly, ineffective, and also counter-productive, we should instead adopt some form of corporal punishment, such as flogging for certain crimes. Jacoby states that not all crimes can be punished with flogging such as murder and rape, but in order for a more affective system we should consider bringing back flogging, for crimes such as burglary or driving while intoxicated. Jacoby attempts to educate us Americans, tax payers, business and home owners about the cost and ineffective justice system that we use today and how we should start thinking about how we can change it to where we can obtain lower crime rates and stop amateur thugs before they become career