We need to reframe the debate away from prison reform, because mass incarceration is only ONE of the effects of a relentless push to criminalize more and more of human activity and conditions. If we let the Libertarian right frame the argument for reform, well end up years from now, either having a slightly downsized system of mass incarceration that continues to hum along pretty well, or some new system of racial and social control will have emerged again, because we have not learned the core lesson that our history is trying to teach us. Mass incarceration is one outcome of the culture of criminalization. Criminalization includes the expansion of law enforcement and the surveillance state to a broad range of activities and settings: zero tolerance policies in schools that steer children into the criminal justice system; welfare policies that punish poor mothers and force them to work outside of the home; employment practices that require workers to compromise their basic civil liberties as a prerequisite for a job; immigration policies that stigmatize and humiliate people while making it difficult for them to access essential services like health care and housing. These and similar practices too numerous to list fall under the rubric of criminalization.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 14:05:45 +0000
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