Thread by @equalityAlec

THREAD: The reaction of this reporter reflects a common flaw in media coverage of the punishment bureaucracy: proposals to shrink and end human caging are framed as unthinkable folly, while the radical historical aberrations of the status quo are ignored. A few key thoughts:

https://twitter.com/axios/status/1462813347116638210

In conversations with people, it's vital to start with how unprecedented current U.S. human caging is: 5 times U.S. historical average from 1790-1970, 5-10 times other current countries, almost all poor people, and a rate of caging Black people 6 times South Africa in Apartheid.

Many journalists never do this. They don't tell people how unprecedented and how lacking in evidence the current system of mass human caging is. Instead, proposals for change are subjected to (sometimes cartoonish) skepticism that reporters haven't brought to the stauts quo.

The BREATHE Act is a new proposal that is is the most scientifically grounded policy proposal ever created to make safer communities and to end harm and violence. It shifts from bureaucracies of punishment and invests in public health, wellness, and community care.

And yet, this reporter's reaction is to seize on the supposedly radical nature of the BREATHE Act while not providing the context that makes the act necessary: despite levels of human caging unprecedented in human history, the U.S. still has high levels of harm and violence.

For example, the BREATHE Act divests from the War on Drugs, one of the most catastrophic, fraudulent, racist, and expensive policies of modern times.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1380200486129795082

The BREATHE Act acknowledges what we all know is true: our current system isn’t just and isn’t working. Our communities aren’t safe even with $5.5 billion each year to cage more than 156,500 people in federal prisons, almost all poor people and mostly for drugs and immigration.

46% of people in federal prison are there for drugs, 5% for immigration. Nearly a third have a disability. And 20% are more than 50 years old, though that recidivism drops to 2% for people aged 50 to 65. bop.gov/about/statisti… bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pd…

Keeping these human beings in cages and separating their families makes communities less safe. The most robust finding in this area of the social sciences is that imprisonment doesn't reduce crime, and it actually increases future crime.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1447626572521934849

The U.S. has the largest per capita prison population in the world. The U.S. also has the highest child caging rate, almost entirely poor children, and mostly Black and Brown children. Still, we’re no safer than peer nations.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1436053960608059396

Massive decarceration isn’t new. During COVID, inhumane conditions forced some decarceration of federal facilities. Of the 24,000 individuals released, only 21 were sent back to prison for alleged rule violations. Just 1 committed an additional crime. thehill.com/homenews/admin…

We now how to be safe. When we invest in streetlights, social and emotional well-being, access to healthcare, youth art, music, athletics programs, non-carceral crisis response, affordable housing, and economic equity, we make our communities safer. civilrightscorps.org/wp-content/upl…

The reason the current wasteful, inhumane, and scandalous bureaucracy exists is that a lot of people benefit and profit from it. Instead of portraying efforts to follow the science as radical, journalists should be helping people understand how radical the current bureaucracy is.

Only 4% of all police time is spent on what they call "violent crime." And we could eliminate most of the federal prisons without even getting into a discussion about "violent crimes" that @jonathanvswan begins his precious tv time with.

We could even disagree about the best way to reduce serious violence and still agree that most of the bureaucracy is ridiculous. We should all focus first on this common ground, because there is no non-frivolous argument for the bulk of what the current bureaucracy does.

Reporters should stop asking lawmakers why they support BREATHE Act in such cartoonish ways. Instead, they can help people follow the science, the evidence on what causes harm, and the overwhelming evidence that the current system only makes us less safe.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1422949466986921991

BREATHE Act was developed by Black organizers @Mvmnt4BlkLives along with a host of experts across the country in public health, education, economics. It is the most common sense, evidence-based proposal ever introduced in Congress that targets public safety.

It's time for journalists to be less biased toward cages. The safest thing we can do is create a society that is less unequal and that invests more in community. Fear brings clicks, but community brings safety. Read more here: vox.com/2021/6/21/2253…