"short eyes"

[Cidney]

Where did this term orignate from? I know what it means in relation to JLB books but I dont get how understand where the term came from.

[Brad Branch]

Afternoon and welcome to the threads cidney;

"short eyes" has its modern origins in prison slang, meaning a child molester or pederast. Or one who has eyes for the smallest and most vunerable in our society, It's a moniker that one receives for conviction of a crime of child molesting and when you are branded as one in the system you usually don't survive very long. although prisons are full of hardened convicts, a lot of them are fathers as well and they don't cotton too well to allowing a short eyes to exist amongst them.

Brad

[Cidney]

Thanks for the reply and today was the first time to post here, I should have been a little more polite and introduced myself first. My excuse for not doing so is I am posting on the fly while at work, will correct that first thing tomorrow morning!

I didnt know if the term 'short eyes" was a old term from way back or what and was just wondering. I love the slang and geographical lingo used in JLB's books - I learn something each time I read his books.

[Brad Branch]

Anytime cidney; and again welcome to the threads.

Brad

[jimmyfromla]

"Short eyes" is something of an old-fashioned term that isn't much used in prisons anymore--at least not prisons in La. It's like the terms "Bull" or "Turn-key" for guard. Authentic but historical. Nowadays pedophiles are referred to as "Baby-rapers" or "Chesters" (as in "Chester the Molester").

There are a number of reasons pedophiles are abused in prison. Part of it is, yes, many of the inmates are fathers themselves. But a man who has _murdered_ children, even his own, doesn't come in for near as much abuse. So it's hard to credit inmates for much nobility or righteous outrage in going after the baby rapers. I think what it really comes from is a common human behavior--kicking the abuse downhill. As in, even murderers have found someone to point the finger at and express indignation. Of course it's all BS. I heard a baby raper once tell a murderer "at least my victim is still alive" and you know what? He was right.

Myself, I would gladly take the life of any person who harmed or killed my child, so I can't say that I have sympathy for either of them. But, if put in the position of having to make a horrible choice, I would always choose to have my child _alive_. I think most people would say the same.

The worst possible thing you can do to another, and all those who love that person, is remove them from the world. It's a hole that can never be filled, a wound that never heals. Don't ever think that _anyone_, even baby rapers, are worse.

[jimmyfromla]

Come to think of it, the first person I ever heard use the term "short eyes" in prison told me he got it from a JLB Robichaux novel. Mr. Burke, your books are _very_ popular in Louisiana prisons. And that is a compliment. If the books, or the characters, were in any way bogus, inauthentic, nobody behind bars would read them. I had a small collection of Robichaux novels, and they were the ones least likely to be returned if loaned out. By the time I discharged, I didn't have a dang one of them left. Frickin' bunch of thieves.

[Brad Branch]

the first time I ever heard the term was when I was working as a jailer in a county facility in 1981, don't know if JLB had used the term in a book yet, but it was common among the cons and the guards that worked the federal facility that we transferred a lot of our guests to once they had received final sentencing. Obviously not all mainline cons are possessed of nobility in wanting to seek justice against pederasts, but there are more than a few that are and it was fairly common practice to either shun them or make their lives, (if they lived), a desperately shitty existence. I'm sure that like many terms and phrases, this one is endemic to particular areas of the country and prone to change or differing usage given the demographic area in which one operates.

[rdiprima]

Name of a play from the 1970s by Newyorican poet Miguel Pinero. There was a film production of it as well. The play is about a "Short Eyes" in jail in New York, in Riker's Island. Certainly based on his experience, since he was a short eyes himself.

[zfranko]

I have "Short Eyes" traced back to the 1960's and associated with the term "Shut Eyes" as if the two terms are synonymous. "Shut Eyes" supposed root is coming from ''Shut your Eyes'' (the act preceding the actual violation)