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17 American J. Crim. Just. 1 (1992-1993)

handle is hein.journals/acnjrlocm17 and id is 1 raw text is: 1 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, VOL. XVII, NO. 1, 1992 THE FLAG-BURNING CONTROVERSY: PROTECTION OF A VENERATED OBJECT AS SOCIAL CONTROL* Michael Welch Rutgers University INTRODUCTION In our neighborhood, we haven't actually had a big flag-burning problem, but there must be places around the country where flag-burning is a menace. -- Calvin Trillin, 1989. Among the numerous symbols of American nationalism and patriotism, the United States' flag has emerged as one of the most significant. The flag's symbolic value has acquired an enormous level of popularity as indicated by the fact that it is treated as a venerated object that lawmakers go to great lengths to protect. Although the constitutionality of state and federal laws have been recently challenged, legal intervention is part of the social apparatus by which government attempts to protect its symbols as well as reinforces ritualistic and perfunctory expressions of patriotism. In July 1989 the Supreme Court handed down a decision that invalidated existing laws banning flag-desecration. The Court ruled that desecrating the flag, even burning it, was a form of speech and protest protected by the First Amendment. This ruling provoked enormous outrage among both private citizens and elected officials. Within days of this decision, legislative strategies were proposed to circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling. In this paper, a systematic socio-historical analysis of deviance and social control is presented as it relates to flag-burning and political protest. More specifically, the formal and informal methods of social control are