Abolition of police and prisons
Abolish is to flourish! Against the prison industrial complex and for transformative justice.
See Critical Resistance's definitions below:
The Prison Industrial Complex
The prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term we use to describe the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social and political problems.
Through its reach and impact, the PIC helps and maintains the authority of people who get their power through racial, economic and other privileges. There are many ways this power is collected and maintained through the PIC, including creating mass media images that keep alive stereotypes of people of color, poor people, queer people, immigrants, youth, and other oppressed communities as criminal, delinquent, or deviant. This power is also maintained by earning huge profits for private companies that deal with prisons and police forces; helping earn political gains for "tough on crime" politicians; increasing the influence of prison guard and police unions; and eliminating social and political dissent by oppressed communities that make demands for self-determination and reorganization of power in the US.
Abolition
PIC abolition is a political vision with the goal of eliminating imprisonment, policing, and surveillance and creating lasting alternatives to punishment and imprisonment.
From where we are now, sometimes we can't really imagine what abolition is going to look like. Abolition isn't just about getting rid of buildings full of cages. It's also about undoing the society we live in because the PIC both feeds on and maintains oppression and inequalities through punishment, violence, and controls millions of people. Because the PIC is not an isolated system, abolition is a broad strategy. An abolitionist vision means that we must build models today that can represent how we want to live in the future. It means developing practical strategies for taking small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and that lead us all to believe that things really could be different. It means living this vision in our daily lives.
Abolition is both a practical organizing tool and a long-term goal.
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Oh. How do you rehabilitate actively harmful societal elements within that context if they are allowed to continue having society at any moment?
Criminals are created, not born. If we address the root causes of criminality, then criminals disappear. You cannot address the root causes of criminality if you imprison people.
Criminals may disappear; others will appear.
Many statistically equitable and privileged citizens still regularly become criminals, but there should certainly be an effort by less equitable societies to mirror the legislative successes of those more equitable.
Abolition means also the abolition of criminal laws. Criminalization defines who in society are deemed as disposable. After criminality has been abolished, this will not mean that harm and conflict disappear. Rather, abolition means dealing with harm and conflict in a healthy way.
That is reform, not abolition.
It's already being done by other countries.
You're also defining criminalization here in a way that it's not commonly used, so a community-specific dictionary would help focus your community.
The words being used in this community have different standard meanings than how you're using them, and you're saying that the way you're using them is how they're meant to be interpreted.
If these words are meant to be interpreted in a specialized way, but you don't explain those new definitions beforehand, it isn't surprising that you're going to get some pushback by claiming that blue is red.
Again, abolition includes reform, but its ultimate goal is the revolutionary abolition of the carceral system.
As for definitions, surely you can be smart enough to realize dictionary definitions aren't the be all end all? Besides, my patience wears thin and I am beginning to believe you're not here to engage in good faith, so I'm becoming increasingly disinterested in continuing this conversation.