Prison abolition movement

The aim of the prison abolition movement is to eliminate prisons, jails, immigration detention centers, and prisoner of war camps by alternatives which they argue are more useful and more humane. A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of Immigration detention is the policy of holding individuals suspected of visa violations Illegal entry or Unauthorised arrival in detention until a decision A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of enemy combatants captured by the enemy in time of war and is similar to an Internment camp which is used for civilian Prison abolitionists present a broad critique of the criminal justice system in the West, which they feel is racist, classist, and ineffectual at reforming criminals, decreasing crime, or reconciling the victims of crime. List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that Classism is prejudice and/or discrimination on the basis of socioeconomic class Many people involved in the prison abolition movement are also involved in struggles against other perceived forms of social control and oppression, such as the institutionalization of the insane.

1 Advocates for prison abolition
2 Prison reforms and alternatives
- 2.1 Anarchist view
3 Arguments made for prison abolition
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Advocates for prison abolition

Historically, Quakers were among the first advocates for alternatives to prison.

Anarchist groups such as Anarchist Black Cross have played a significant part in the prison abolition movement and this trend continues today. Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i The Anarchist Black Cross ("ABC" is an anarchist politics support organization Anarchists wish to eliminate all forms of state control, of which imprisonment is seen as one of the more obvious examples. Anarchists also oppose prisons because they house non-violent offenders (e. g. , thieves and swindlers instead of just murderers and rapists), incarcerate mainly poor people or people of color, and do not generally rehabilitate criminals, in many cases making them worse. As a result, the prison abolition movement often is associated with anarchism and anti-authoritarianism. Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to Authoritarianism, which is defined as a "political doctrine advocating the principle of absolute rule absolutism autocracy despotism

Prison reforms and alternatives

Proposals for prison reform and proposed alternatives to prisons differ significantly depending on the political beliefs behind them. Proposals and tactics often include:

Penal system reforms:
- Substituting incarceration with supervised release, probation, restitution to victims, or community work. Probation is the suspension of all or part of a jail sentence the Criminal who is "on probation" has been convicted of a crime but instead of serving jail The law of restitution is the law of gains-based recovery It is to be contrasted with the law of compensation, which is the law of loss-based recovery
- Decreasing terms of imprisonment by abolishing mandatory minimum sentencing
- Decreasing ethnic disparity in prison populations
Prison condition reforms
Crime prevention rather than punishment
Abolition of specific programs which increase prison population, such as the prohibition of drugs (e. A mandatory sentence is a court decision setting where Judicial discretion is limited by Law. The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary Legislation or Religious law is a common means of attempting to control Drug use and the g. War on Drugs), gun control, prohibition of prostitution, and alcohol restrictions. The War on Drugs is a prohibition campaign undertaken by the United States government with the assistance of participating countries intended to reduce the Illegal Gun politics is a set of legal issues surrounding the ownership use and regulation of firearms as well as safety issues related to firearms both through their direct use and through Prostitution is the act of performing Sexual activity in exchange for Money. Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, also known as Noble Experiment, refers to a Sumptuary law which prohibits Alcohol
Education programs to inform people who have never been in prison about the problems
Fighting individual cases of wrongful conviction

Anarchist view

In place of prisons, anarchism proposes community-controlled courts, councils, or assemblies to control the problem of social crime. They argue that with the destruction of capitalism, and the self-management of production by workers and communities, property crimes would largely vanish. A large part of the problem, according to anarchists, is the way the judicial systems deals with prisoners, people and capital. They argue that there would be fewer prisoners if society treated people more fairly, regardless of gender, color, ethnic background, sexual preference, education, etc.

Arguments made for prison abolition

Prisons are less effective at discouraging crimes and/or compensating victims than other forms of punishment. ^[1]
Degree and quality of access to justice depends on the financial resources of the accused. ^[2] ^[3]
Laws are biased towards profiting one segment of the population over another. For example, in most countries tobacco is legal, while marijuana is not, because large corporations control the former, while the latter is not currently taxed. Tobacco is an Agricultural product recognized as an addictive drug processed from the fresh Leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. Cannabis, also known as marijuana or marihuana, or ganja (from Hindi / Sanskrit: गांजा gānjā hemp) is a A corporation is a separate legal entity usually used to conduct business
Prisons alienate people from their communities. In Sociology and Critical social theory, alienation refers to an individual's estrangement from traditional community and others in general In biological terms a community is a group of interacting Organisms sharing an environment.
In the U. S. , people of color and from the lower class are much more likely to be imprisoned than people of European descent or people who are wealthy. Person of color (plural people of color) is a term used primarily in the United States, to describe all people who are not white. The proletariat (from Latin la ''proles'' "offspring" is a term used to identify a lower Social class; a member of such a class is proletarian ^[4]
People who are put in prison for what are arguably crimes motivated by need, such as some minor theft (food, etc) or prostitution, find it much harder to obtain legal employment once convicted of a crime. Arguably, this difficulty makes it more likely they will find themselves back in the prison system, having had few other options or resources available to support themselves and/or their families. Many prison abolitionists argue that we should "legalize survival" and provide help to those who need it instead of making it even harder to find work and perpetuating the non-violent crimes.
Prisons are not proven to make people less violent. In fact, there is evidence that they may instead promote violence in individuals by surrounding them with other violent criminals, which can lead to predictable negative/violent results. ^[5]

Opponents of the abolition argue that none of the above arguments addresses the protection of non-criminal population from the effects of crime, and from particuarly violent criminals.

References

^ Andrews and Bonta, 2003
^ TheStar.com | Canada | Access to justice a `basic right'
^ Public Interest Law Institute - Indigent Defense Systems in the United States
^ Prison population statistics. The Anarchist Black Cross ("ABC" is an anarchist politics support organization The Anarchist Prisoners' Legal Aid Network (APLAN is an Anarchist organization that provides legal aid to known anarchist prisoners and publishes the Newsletter Critical Resistance is a national member-based grassroots organization that works to build a mass movement to dismantle what it calls '"the Prison-industrial complex "' The Socialist Party USA (SP USA is one of the heirs to the Socialist Party of America of Eugene V Socialist Resistance is an Ecosocialist network in Britain which publishes a Marxist Periodical of the same name Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC is an all Volunteer prison activist organization located at 1904 Franklin St The American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU) consists of two separate Non-profit organizations the ACLU Foundation a 501(c(3 organization which focuses The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC is a Religious Society of Friends ( Quaker) affiliated organization which provides Humanitarian relief Books to Prisoners is an umbrella term for several projects and organizations that mail free reading material to Prison inmates. Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM is a USA Nonprofit organization founded in 1991 to challenge what they believe to be the inflexible and excessive penalties The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is one of the oldest and most influential Civil rights organizations The November Coalition is a non-profit grassroots organization founded in 1997, which fights against the War on Drugs and for the rights of the Prisoners Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944 in Birmingham Alabama) is an American Political activist and University Incarceration is the detention of a person in Jail or Prison. In Law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of Courts which administer Justice in the name of the sovereign or State Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside Prisons aiming at a more effective Penal system. A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of Prison education, also known as Correctional Education, involves vocational training or academic Education supplied to Prisoners as Penal labour or penal servitude is a form of Unfree labour. The term may refer to two different notions labour as a form of punishment and labour as a form of occupation A private prison', jail or detention center is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned for profit Probation is the suspension of all or part of a jail sentence the Criminal who is "on probation" has been convicted of a crime but instead of serving jail Retrieved on 2007-10-04. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas
^ MotherJones.com - Debt to Society

External links

For the bisexual rights activist see Gary North (journalist. Gary Kilgore North (born 1942 is a writer and publisher from the Christian

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Contents

Advocates for prison abolition

Prison reforms and alternatives

Anarchist view

Arguments made for prison abolition

See also

List of organizations supporting prison abolition

List of other relevant organizations

Relevant topics

References

External links