It’s incredible to me how many of those I’ve spoken to, who want to attack homelessness, substance use, & mental health with more cops, prosecutions, & cages, can also fully acknowledge that those responses will only hurt people more & make society less safe & healthy.
I think for some yes. They just want blunt force punishment. For others I think it’s just an inability to imagine a society that could actually solve problems without police, prosecutors, & prisons. Mass criminalization is a deeply engrained, American inertia.
https://twitter.com/aleksanderrb/status/1454814937923133440
It’s also I think impatience. Wanting things “fixed” & “cleaned up” right now. The problem w/ alternatives to policing for those who’re disgusted over how “their cities” look & feel, is that visible change won’t happen over night. Takes time to undo centuries of terrible policy.
Another incredible thing in recent conversations. An eagerness to blame “reform” or “progressive prosecutors”—that barely exist or have just started—for all current societal ills. I’m like: “What about your police force you’ve been paying billions for decades only to fail?”
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