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Abolitionism: Unterschied zwischen den Versionen
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The (slightly abolitionist) movement for prison reduction is driven by a certain scepticism towards the possibility of making prisons as humane and effective as they were intended to be. Former prison director and later professor of criminology Andrew Rutherford argues for a radical reduction of the prison system in his 1987 book Prisons and the Process of Justice. | The (slightly abolitionist) movement for prison reduction is driven by a certain scepticism towards the possibility of making prisons as humane and effective as they were intended to be. Former prison director and later professor of criminology Andrew Rutherford argues for a radical reduction of the prison system in his 1987 book Prisons and the Process of Justice. | ||
The movement to abolish prisons once and for all as a means of punishment is not very visible today, to say the least. To find convinced prison abolitionists one has to turn to the usual suspects like the Quaker community and similar religious groups. Outside of their realm, the small [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_Black_Cross Anarchist Black Cross] continues its frail existence. | The movement to abolish prisons once and for all as a means of punishment is not very visible today, to say the least. To find convinced prison abolitionists one has to turn to the usual suspects like the Quaker community and similar religious groups. Outside of their realm, the small [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_Black_Cross Anarchist Black Cross] continues its frail existence. | ||
The reasons for the weakness of the prison abolition movement are not difficult to detect: | |||
#Prisons themselves originated as a rather benevolent alternative to the cruel corporal (and capital) punishments of earlier times, making it difficult to perceive them as inherently bad | |||
#Prison inmates do not elicit the public sympathy reserved for innocent victims; they belong to a different moral category from victims of slavery | |||
#In spite of their comparatively young age as an institution, prisons managed to be perceived by the wider public as a legitimate part of a quasi-natural social order. | |||
=== Arguments === | === Arguments === | ||
In a way, though, the arguments for abolition are much stronger than the present frailty of the movement suggests. | |||
*Sociological arguments for prison abolition include the outdatedness of incarceration from a social evolutionary perspective - a position maybe best spelled out by French philosophers Michel Foucault (1975) and Gilles Deleuze (1992). In Deleuze's opinion, prisons are anachronistic institutions just waiting to be abolished. | *Sociological arguments for prison abolition include the outdatedness of incarceration from a social evolutionary perspective - a position maybe best spelled out by French philosophers Michel Foucault (1975) and Gilles Deleuze (1992). In Deleuze's opinion, prisons are anachronistic institutions just waiting to be abolished. | ||
*Pragmatic arguments point to the enormous costs of the prison system, and its ineffectiveness or even counterproductivity. | *Pragmatic arguments point to the enormous costs of the prison system, and its ineffectiveness or even counterproductivity. | ||
*Moral arguments criticize the prison system as inherently unjust. They point to the disproportionality of using prisons for punishing lesser crimes (thieves, swindlers, shoplifters), to the double standards of letting rich people avoid prisons and incarcerating poor people and ethnic minorities who go to prison for the lack of access to good defense lawyers. "Eighty percent of people accused of crimes [in the United States] are unable to afford a lawyer to defend them."[2] The US Supreme Court held in 1963 that a poor person facing felony charges "cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him." "Long Term Neglect and underfunding of indigent defense have created a crisis of extra ordinary proportions in many states throughout the country."[2] The simple structure of the crimes of poor people makes them easy prey for prosecutors, whereas prosecutors tend to a hands-off-strategy when complex financial crimes threaten to overburden their expertise and manpower. Furthermore, they point to | |||
*Moral arguments criticize the prison system as inherently unjust. They point to the disproportionality of using prisons for punishing lesser crimes (thieves, swindlers, shoplifters), to the double standards of letting rich people avoid prisons and incarcerating poor people and ethnic minorities who go to prison for the lack of access to good defense lawyers and the | |||
===Strategies === | |||
*Substituting incarceration with supervised release, probation, restitution to victims, or community work; decreasing terms of imprisonment by abolishing mandatory minimum sentencing; decreasing ethnic disparity in prison populations; foster crime prevention rather than punishment; abolition of specific programs which increase prison population, such as the prohibition of drugs (e.g. War on Drugs), gun control, prohibition of sex work, and alcohol restrictions; fighting individual cases of wrongful conviction. | |||
The | *The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime published a series of handbooks on criminal justice. Among them is Alternatives to Imprisonment which identifies how the overuse of imprisonment impacts fundamental human rights, especially those convicted for lesser crimes. | ||
In place of prisons, some abolitionists propose community-controlled courts, councils, or assemblies to control the problem of social crime. A large part of the problem, according to some, is the way the judicial system 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 orientation, education, etc. | |||
In place of prisons, some abolitionists propose community-controlled courts, councils, or assemblies to control the problem of social crime | |||
War on drugs conceals racial tension | War on drugs conceals racial tension | ||
(2005) "The United States leads the world in the number of people incarcerated in federal and state correctional facilities. There are currently more than 2 million people in American prisons or jails. Approximately one-quarter of those people held in U.S. prisons or jails have been convicted of a drug offense. The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses than any other country. With an estimated 6.8 million Americans struggling with drug abuse or dependence, the growth of the prison population continues to be driven largely by incarceration for drug offenses." [3] "The so-called drug war was started in the 1980s and it was aimed directly at the black population. None of this has anything to do with drugs. It has to do with controlling and criminalizing dangerous populations."[4]"Blacks are 12.3 percent of the U.S. population (2001) but they comprise fully half of the roughly 2 million Americans currently behind Bars. On any given day, 30 percent of African-American males aged 20- 29 are "under correctional supervision."[5] Blacks constitute 13 percent of all drug users, but 35 percent of those arrested for drug possession, 55 percent of persons convicted, and 74 percent of people sent to prison.[6] | (2005) "The United States leads the world in the number of people incarcerated in federal and state correctional facilities. There are currently more than 2 million people in American prisons or jails. Approximately one-quarter of those people held in U.S. prisons or jails have been convicted of a drug offense. The United States incarcerates more people for drug offenses than any other country. With an estimated 6.8 million Americans struggling with drug abuse or dependence, the growth of the prison population continues to be driven largely by incarceration for drug offenses." [3] "The so-called drug war was started in the 1980s and it was aimed directly at the black population. None of this has anything to do with drugs. It has to do with controlling and criminalizing dangerous populations."[4]"Blacks are 12.3 percent of the U.S. population (2001) but they comprise fully half of the roughly 2 million Americans currently behind Bars. On any given day, 30 percent of African-American males aged 20- 29 are "under correctional supervision."[5] Blacks constitute 13 percent of all drug users, but 35 percent of those arrested for drug possession, 55 percent of persons convicted, and 74 percent of people sent to prison.[6] | ||