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Katrina Gulliver's avatar

Removing police and abolishing prisons is the definitional "luxury belief". The people most impacted as victims of crime are those who are already in disadvantaged groups, and it's disgusting how many "compassionate" people on the left are willing to throw them under the bus.

(See also the condemnation of women who want domestic abusers or sexual predators locked up as displaying "carceral feminism". In this case too there seems to be among the responses a vein of thought that the victim should somehow "take one for the team" and ignore the crime, to be a good liberal).

Are there police forces that need cleaning out? 100%. Should some offenders be diverted away from incarceration? No doubt. That doesn't mean there aren't some people who Deserve Prison. The system by which we punish offenders is not just about sticking it to criminals (or enforcing racial systems, etc). It's about the dignity of victims, and showing that we take their suffering seriously - and that we recognise the right of the average citizen to want to be safe.

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Chesterton's Fence Repair Co.'s avatar

Yeah. I actually think the folks who say we need MORE police, not fewer, are onto something. There are a few people working in this vein, but some of the key arguments are summarized in this pair of posts by Alex Tabarrok:

https://marginalrevolution.com/?s=under%20policed&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/09/what-was-gary-beckers-biggest-mistake.html

The basic argument is that criminals actually respond better to a greater likelihood of being caught than they do to increased prison sentences. But we’re doing it backwards: instead of moderate penalties applied consistently, we let a lot of crimes go unprevented or unsolved, but when we DO catch someone we put them in prison for a long time. Because criminals don’t have a strong sense that a penalty is coming, prison is not a very effective deterrent. But we do nonetheless end up with a ginormous population of people who spend their prime years in prison.

And even if you think some policing should ultimately be made unnecessary by mental health treatment, poverty reduction, etc. — those things would take years or decades to become effective, and you still need to protect people in the meantime. (And if we need a social justice sweetener — victims of crime are disproportionately black, poor, mentally ill, homeless… pick your favorite.)

So, IMO — more and better policing is the place to start.

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