Talking w/ Dwayne Betts about justice is always tough. Bc he’s inconsistent. Hates prison. Wants his friends out. But wants vengeance. Wants the man who raped his mother imprisoned forever. In this piece, he confronts this contradiction. It is illuminating.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/mag…
Dwayne has the remarkably unique perspective of somehow who’s done time for a serious crime, has a violent criminal record, AND is also a lawyer, & not only has many friends still imprisoned, but fights for their release, AND is the family member of a survivor of a violent crime.
Dwayne understands how prisons “do little to address violence.” He understands how prisons warehouse Black boys who only come out better if “they’ve fought w/ the system.” He also understands the “unfathomable” pain & anger of being the victim of violent crime or family member.
So when Dwayne talks about prison, & mass incarceration, & the future of “justice,” you get a sometimes dizzying combination of abolition & “they should get years,” restorative justice & punitive vengeance, a yearning fight for freedom & need for cages. “It ain’t that easy.”
In his piece, Dwayne posits that maybe bc of his direct experience, he shouldn’t be engaging at all in conversations about justice, healing, & vengeance. “The thing that makes you suited for a conversation in America might be the very thing that precludes you from having it.”
Dwayne’s “contradictory impulses” derived from varied experiences on all sides of the criminal legal system, provides a critical window into the challenges in the fight for abolition, healing, & fairness. Particularly in communities most devastated by mass criminalization.
The basic data point of this whole piece is “it’s not that simple.” But now I get that doesn’t mean abolition isn’t it. Dwayne’s perspective provides an important space for discomfort that allows for critical discussion that I think gets us to that place of transformation.
I know this was tough to write. But I’m grateful Dwayne did it. Allowed me to feel & step into his discomfort & conflict with abolition & mercy. We don’t always agree, but now I know, feel, & understand a fraction more of exactly why. If you don’t already, follow: @dwaynebetts.
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