An abolitionist future - the end of policing

Written by Amara Precious Okoye

Abolition is not only an urgent call to dismantle the police or prisons: it is an urgent call to dismantle life as we know it and to recreate a new society, one which is safe for all. Abolition asks us to think beyond the cages modern society has left us in, to reimagine a world where everyone is truly equal and all members of all communities are treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.

We are so subdued by society that the thought of something new appears impossible. Why do we struggle to imagine a safer world for ourselves? Current society is not any safer for women, black, brown and transexual people and all those who exist in a minority or an oppressed community. Yet we have been ingrained with the mentality that life cannot function beyond the construct presented for us by capitalism. One must thoroughly examine our position within society which affords us the privilege to peacefully exist in a corrupt and dangerous system which preys upon the most vulnerable within society. The option to not look towards abolition demonstrates safety within a harmful system.

Yet we have been ingrained with the mentality that life cannot function beyond the construct presented for us by capitalism.

One must thoroughly examine our position within society which affords us the privilege to peacefully exist in a corrupt and dangerous system which preys upon the most vulnerable within society.

Abolitionism is not impossible, nor is it sentimental wishes of the “far-left” with no concrete basis - as some claim. Abolition is a political stance which many Black, Brown and Indigenous academics, scholars and activists have spent years researching, envisioning and creating. Of course this is not to say that the call to completely dismantle and rebuild is easy. We are asking people to renounce all they know and look towards the alternative. However, it is important to remember that this alternative is the meaning between life and death for so many. We cannot remain with the easy option so long as it is safe for the select few. We must look towards the alternative - abolition.

The brutal murder of George Flloyd by police officers on May 25th 2020 pushed the preexisting and urgent call to abolish police officers to the forefront of public discourse. Despite several attempts to water down the movement, Abolitionists are not calling for reformation of the police state. Instead we are calling to completely defund and dismantle the police. We are calling for people to imagine a world where police officers do not exist. Seeking reform comes from a flawed premise regarding the police state. It stems from the notion that the police system is fundamentally good but has lost its way and can be adjusted to a point where it is once again beneficial to society. To call for reform places an assumption that the police system is broken and is not working. This is inaccurate. Policing is not broken, nor faulty. The way the police state has resulted in the deaths, murders, harm and dehumanization of many Black, Brown and other minority communities is not due to a sudden flaw in the system. Instead, the police state functions according to how it was intended. We cannot fix something which is not broken.

The police system we have today was birthed following the abolition of slavery as an alternative ingrained system which serves as social control and selective order. Policing was created as a method to protect private property and to adhere to white supremacist ideals and beliefs.

When people call for reform, they, whether intentionally or not, call for further monetary investment into something harmful. Reform pours more money and resources into a system created to target the most marginalised within society, therefore strengthening their efforts and powers to dehumanise and harm Black and Brown bodies. Instead, the money wasted on the police system should be used for our local communities. The money should be poured into youth centres and youth workers to get young people off the streets and into spaces with inspiring and relatable mentors. The money should be poured into our schools to ensure all children are receiving the same level and standard of education. The money should be put into developing the people and community and not used to develop those who target and over-police disadvantaged communities. 

A future without police officers is not lawlessness, but a future where we are solving problems at the root instead of placing the emphasis on punishment and imprisonment.

Instead, prison and police abolition is the understanding that caging a person and replicating state-sanctioned harm upon another body is not true justice.

Naturally, the call for police abolition is also a call for prison abolition as one cannot exist without the other. Once again this is not the call for havoc within society. Instead, prison and police abolition is the understanding that caging a person and replicating state-sanctioned harm upon another body is not true justice. Instead, abolitionists seek justice in the form of finding the reasons behind the harm caused in order to prevent further injury from ever occurring and also, repairing the damage which was caused in the form of victim-centred care and support. In our current police state, the focus is heavily placed upon punishing but, little to nothing is done to support those who were harmed, yet we claim the protection of people is what we care about as a society. The prison system has become a lucrative venture which provides free labour, and an income for corporations. As Angela Davis writes in ‘Are Prisons Obsolete?’ Prisons “relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society”, society places the emphasis on caging those who do not align with the values of the elites, instead of addressing the reasons behind their crimes and what can be done to prevent further crimes beyond increasing prisons spaces. 

Our prisons are filled with many working-class African-Carribean and Asian (most of South Asian backgrounds) Men and Women. These stats do not mean these individuals commit the most crimes. Instead, our society’s racism results in the over-policing and intentional targeting of these groups, consequently prisons ‘therefore functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited’ - Angela Davis ‘Are Prisons Obsolete?’ 

When we begin to think of abolishing prisons and the police, we start thinking of what needs to be done to ensure safety and care for all within society. We seek the reasoning behind harm and begin addressing it. Abolitionism as a whole is calling for the destruction of power dynamics which we see to be the cause of other crimes which cannot be explained by poverty and lack of education. The crimes of the most powerful or the crimes which provide feelings of power and authority over another’s body and life. 

The abolition work already exists, but the funds are misplaced in harmful spaces. Around the country we have community members who serve as mediators to diffuse tensions among members of the community, we have volunteers who help rape and sexual assault survivors to regain their confidence and autonomy. We have people creating non-profit organisations which aim to educate and tackle toxic masculinity which is core to many crimes committed. 

Abolition is asking for a reimaging and restructuring of how we see our interactions with one another. It asks us to remove the limitations on our imaginations and create a new world for all.

Amarachukwu (Amara) Precious is the current Women’s Officer at Warwick Student Union. She studies sociology and identifies as an abolitionist feminist.

You can find here here: www.linkedin.com/in/preciousokoye/