my feelings about justice and what to do with bad people are complicated and multi layered. I do believe in prison abolition, and I don't believe in the carceral system in general. at the same time, it is the only system we have and the only "justice" that many people can conceptualize and may have access to. I think olurinattis video about how women become carceral feminists is a really good exploration of this. it focuses in on the megan thee stallion and tory lanez case, and I strongly recommend it. I understand the kind of pragmatist view of "this is all we have" and I understand the intuitive notion of "get dangerous people away from us".
that argument is a very obvious slippery slope though, because it's very easy to change what we classify as dangerous behavior to suit whatever ends you like. as we can see from the united states criminal punishment system. reclassify drugs as dangerous crime, do the same to transgender existence and antifascist organizing and gay sex and any number of other things that are considered crimes right now or have been in our not too distant history. any argument that involves trying to simply remove criminals from polite society is built on very shaky foundations.
I have not done all of the reading on this topic so my knowledge is incomplete. forgive me for any imperfections in my understanding. that's why I say I believe in prison abolition and not that I am a prison abolitionist, because I just haven't done all of the work for that.
so acknowledging all of that. I have to figure out how I feel about figures that I would consider evil, and what I want for them. and I have to separate out the cathartic version, the ideal version, and some combination of the two.
the cathartic version usually involves violent misfortune - completely unrealistic stuff that is nonetheless satisfying to the punitive instinct. an anvil falls on their head vibes. falling pianos, or somehow left holding a stick of dynamite that they themselves lit. looney tunes shit.
the ideal version is that they are faced with their actions and forced to accept accountability and spend the rest of their lives striving to be better and do better and make some measure of amends for the damage they've done. they are able to grow and change and find a place in the world where they are doing something good.
the third thing is more.. vicious. it is an attempt to reckon with both the viciousness and the desire to maintain human rights and decency. I hope they realize the consequences of their actions and are haunted by it, even if they'll never make amends for it. I hope they never find peace or get a good night's sleep again. I hope they experience a fraction of the misery they inflicted on other people. I hope that they lose their support systems and I hope that they're miserable. I hope that this all happens by their own hand. I still want them to have all of their basic needs met, but if they have no plans of ever doing better, and no one will ever force them to experience consequences, then I want them to have to carry the weight of what they've done in some way. I do not want them to feel happy and content with their lives.
and all three of these instincts duke it out every time I contemplate someone heinous and what I think the future should look like for them. what is justice without the carceral system? how do we process the rage? what can be done, what should be done, and how can we reconceptualize a system to create one that doesn't demand human rights violations? these are all just things I wrestle with personally and vague, disorganized thoughts I have. I'm trying to sort it out and figure out how to deal with the complicated and contradictory feelings
blakekathryn
stormborns
baratheonpilled
turnnoffyourmind
ellievsbear
