The Not-So- Secret Elephant In The Room

Since the George Floyd protests we've seen a political consensus on policing that has stunted our discourse and rendered fights against our current reactionary moment all but incomprehensible

Yesterday Illinois got rid of cash bail as the “Pre-Trial Fairness Act” finally takes effect after much delay and many attempts to undermine and overturn the law. This is a great achievement for everyone interested in creating a more just world. Rather than having people’s freedom hinge on how much money they’re able to produce whenever they may be arrested, judges will now determine whether defendants pose a public safety or flight risk. Aside from local news outlets, organizations dedicated to criminal justice reform that worked for these changes like the Coalition to End Money Bond, the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice, and many others celebrating this step the bulk of commentary on this is being seen on the right in outlets like the Washington Examiner, and The Daily Caller.

This muted reaction from much of the left and center-left stems from the discomfort to outright hostility we’ve seen from political actors across the ideological spectrum to the specter of police and prison abolition as a legitimate position people hold and are compelled to advocate for. After the 2020 midterms when “Defund The Police” was fingered as the reason the Democratic Party underperformed political conventional wisdom solidified on the idea that any effort to defund or, even “worse”, abolish the police is too politically toxic to discuss with “voters.” This became the prevailing logic despite the fact we’ve seen voters consistently come out to support candidates promising to make the criminal legal system less carceral in every region throughout the country. They’ve been elected to municipal and state offices running on a criminal justice reform platform in places as varied as Mississippi to Minnesota, New Orleans to New York.

Nevertheless, since that conventional wisdom has set in we’ve seen no hints towards reducing, nevermind abolishing, police abandoned by mainstream Democratic politicians and the organizations that support them while coopting certain rhetoric and aesthetics. The conventional wisdom holds that while policing is something people get riled up about on social media the average middle-class professional will be instantly repelled by any discussion of reining in policing and we’d be better off appealing to economic and less contentious social issues where there is more consensus. This is coupled with the aforementioned extirpation of any rhetoric or policies that aren’t ultimately supportive of the police at the national level while lifting lines about the way we’ve allowed police to overtake the roles of other social services while offering even more police as the solution. The argument is this is a political necessity as taking on policing in any serious way is a political non-starter.

This has led to a paradox of sorts however considering the issues that are considered to animate the base that the Democratic Party would like to draw out that are considered more galvanizing like abortion. Here the police and the carceral system at large play a determinative role. The issue is this role has been relegated to be unspeakable and unaccountable. This understanding being broadly shared we now see strange distortions in logic and perception to account for this received wisdom. This real-time invisibilization has led to distorted politics in which people are compelled to work around the carceral system and at best live righteously within a carceral society while never supporting any active challenge to policing and incarceration in and of itself.

On abortion, we’ve already seen a rapid acceleration in the aspirations of lawmakers and activists to further criminalize bodily autonomy. Laws targeting healthcare providers and organizers assisting people with their reproductive health were simply the beginning. We’re now seeing Republicans take aim at those providing access to medical abortions through the mail, and interstate travel for anyone who may be considering obtaining an abortion. These moves have been denounced and sought to be countered by policies in states run by Democratic legislatures and Governors with “safe haven” laws intended to protect the right to bodily autonomy in their states. In the midst of this, we’re still seeing support for record funding at the national level for police who will be the people to execute the warrants targeting the people these laws seek to criminalize. We’re also allowing the police to have unfettered access to data across state lines through our anemic policies and protections against state surveillance. Here we must ask when we hear safe haven does this mean a safe haven for all? The current treatment of Black people seeking healthcare is hazardous throughout the country. We know people who suffer from addiction and seek medical help are regularly criminalized in jurisdictions throughout the nation as well. Will people without documentation or housing be secure in seeking an abortion in these safe haven states? What is to stop any law enforcement officer from using the ways we already criminalize the marginalized from using this as a pretext to collude with a collaborator in a state seeking to punish people for seeking an abortion?

There are other questions as well that speak to the issues of leaving policing unaddressed. What is to stop any Attorney General or zealous police chief from using the same federal resources currently deployed against organizers and activists opposing Cop City from targeting those organizers providing access to abortion? How can safe haven laws protect the family, friends, or found community who would be left behind and exposed to prosecution under the assumption they helped their friend escape to obtain an abortion? These questions never come to the fore because they force us to grapple with the vast police apparatus that has been built up to make an abortion ban in an age where abortions can be induced at home through medicine even conceivable. Instead of taking this reality head-on we are greeted with the paradox of being offered a safe haven that ultimately only offers limited individual safety and at the cost of being able to stay in community with your community. Which isn’t any safety at all.

This is unsustainable. As we continue to see the growing criminalization of bodily autonomy the issue of policing itself will only grow in prominence. In the past this was easily ignored because the people targeted by the police were considered marginal — criminals, people suffering from addiction, poor Black people — but the success of Dobbs places the practices of the carceral system once again at the center of our attention as the system gropes to expand and include the targets sought by an ever more reactionary right. This must either break the current consensus on policing as a shibboleth or force people to further contort themselves until they must admit they find policing more important than their stated values here.

As we see this happening what should we do? I believe joining organizations like Court Watch and others directly challenging policing in your community is valuable at this moment. Money for progressive causes has dried up and that includes criminal justice reform. The beautiful thing about working to affect substantive change is that at the end of the day, it’s not the money that will count but the people, so if you can find the time and energy to spare to volunteer and organize with folks in your area in whatever capacity I encourage you to do so.