By Joanna Lack & Bill Bettencourt, upEND, November 15, 2022
A key tenet of abolition is the recognition that carceral systems are not broken; no amount of reform can fix them. Yet time and again, family policing systems push forward the same reforms – a maddening demonstration that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The pandemic, and now endemic, have placed the family policing system under additional stress. Like always, children and families trapped in its carceral web bear the brunt of it. The weaponizing of the system against families supporting their transgender children in Texas is but one recent example of the worst of its carceral approach.
While the system is not broken, it has become more and more clear that sustaining it is untenable. The family policing system’s punitive approach does not – and cannot – ever authentically heal or prevent anything. We know that direct financial support and community-controlled solutions help families. Let us make this moment an opportunity to invest in what works, and divest from what causes harm.
Comments (0)