The recent events have really shocked me to the core. So excuse me for making a political thread. With the horrible events going on, I'm interested in knowing where people land when it comes to solving the problems of police forces and prisons. Everyone already know what reforming means, I imagine, and it's something I've always thought was the solution. But I have also been reading a lot of interesting things on abolition of police and prison. And it just seems like reforming the police and the prison system is simply impossible, because they are fundamentally white supremacist and do not actually help anyone or fix any of society's problems. Instead you need to rethink how we deal with conflict resolution, education, public health, & property relations, rather than punishment and violence.
I saw that there's an Official Thread on it with resources and discussion:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/prison-and-police-abolition-resources-and-discussion-ot.188388/
and here's an interview with one of the many people behind the abolition movement:
So I am curious what people on this forum think. Is reform still possible? Or is abolition the only way? Please lock if this is inappropriate.
I saw that there's an Official Thread on it with resources and discussion:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/prison-and-police-abolition-resources-and-discussion-ot.188388/
and here's an interview with one of the many people behind the abolition movement:
LSM: What are some common misconceptions about police abolition?
BY: The biggest misconception is that the absence of policing as we know it is the absence of safety. A lot of people think that police abolition means letting "rapists, murders and pedophiles run free"—as if the very same police officers we place our trust in aren't the murders and rapists we claim to be ridding our communities of. According to the National Center for Women and Policing, 40 percent of police officer families experience domestic violence in contrast to 10 percent of families in the general population. There are numerous cases of police officers killing their wives. We also know that sexual assault runs rampant within policing and Black women and sex workers are particularly vulnerable. Daniel Holtzclaw who was convicted in 2015 of raping multiple women over a period of six months is just one example. We also can easily look at the GTTF (Gun Trace Task Force) Trial in Baltimore to see how officers used their badge to aid gangs, participate in drug trafficking rings, plant drugs and weapons, steal money from homes and even carried out robberies. GTTF was able to thrive for years and without any consequences.
Is this the policing we are so invested in? Are these the people who are supposed to keep us safe? Furthermore, most police officers are not even from the communities that they police and therefore lack awareness of the culture of the people they serve. In Baltimore in 2010, about 3 in 4 police officers did not live in the city. White people make up 28% of the population in Baltimore city but make up 45% of Baltimore city's police force.
LSM: And it police who are putting people in prisons—especially black people. So to get rid of on we must get rid of the other?
If we understand that the justice system was created to funnel black folks in prison for economic gain (carceral capitalism), then we know that police officers are the suppliers of the people. About $80 billion is spent each year on correctional facilities with the intention of receiving that profit back. Policing is the engine behind the justice system and ensures that prisons are filled with labourers and will therefore produce profit. Police officers are charged with enforcing the laws and are able to make their own interpretations of what is legal and illegal. They get to decide who will enter into the justice system and who will not (the decriminalization of opioids is an example of this). The documentary "Crime + Punishment" on Hulu examines police quotas and how despite quotas in New York policing being banned in 2010, officers are still expected to make a certain amount of arrests. In the documentary one officer says that he was explicitly told to "arrest black males between the ages of 14 and 21" and faced consequences for refusing to do so.
We also cannot ignore the roots of policing. Policing as an institution in U.S. comes out of slave patrols who were tasked with catching runaway enslaved people and preventing rebellions. If we know that the justice system cannot provide real justice and accountability then we know that policing cannot provide real safety because it is inherently anti-black. Michael Brown taught us this. Aiyana Jones taught us this. Atatiana Jefferson taught us this. Prison is modern day slavery and police officers are modern day slave patrols. This why the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense had armed panther patrols—it was a response to police brutality.
An Introduction to Police Abolition
Like the conversation surrounding reparations, the idea of abolishing the police has shifted in recent years from something (wrongfully) viewed as radical to the kind of an idea many are trying to get a handle on in clear, pragmatic ways: Do we rely too much on police? Is there actually a...
baltimorebeat.com
So I am curious what people on this forum think. Is reform still possible? Or is abolition the only way? Please lock if this is inappropriate.