I've received a few responses to my prison abolition thread along the lines of, "so you're saying I'm a bad person for wanting my rapist locked up?"

no, I don't think that. I think it's very natural and understandable to want to remove people who've harmed us from society.

I understand why so many people are believers in the prison system. I've studied criminal law. I've worked with refugees. I know exactly what kinds of awful things people can do to other people, often for what they think are good reasons.

the problem with prisons isn't that you're a bad person for wanting your rapist or abuser kept away from you. the problem with prisons is that 1) they often don't do this effectively and 2) they don't solve the underlying conditions that create rapists and abusers.

prisons don't work to deter violent crime; often, they create more violent criminals. prisons are not a form of community justice; they're a form of state punishment, which is itself a type of violence. prisons are not designed to rehabilitate people or societies.

does everyone deserve a chance at rehabilitation?

I think the answer to that has to be yes, not because I believe in second chances (anyone who knows me well knows that I don't) but because I *know* I don't believe in punishment as an effective tool of behavioural change.

what about people who refuse to change?

I think this is a hard question to answer because we currently live in a society that gives people very few incentives to *want* to change. the abusers have it all their own way - why would they want to change their behaviours?

prison abolition isn't an idea that exists in a vacuum. it's part of a reimagining of society that involves tearing down and rebuilding our institutions and communities to be more humane, more compassionate and more able to service people's basic needs.

would sexual violence be so endemic in a society free of toxic masculinity? studies show that where consent culture is taught and toxic masculinity is less all-pervading, violence of all kinds is less common.

imagine that on a societal level. what would a world free of patriarchy and white supremacy look like? what would a world free of homophobia and transphobia look like? what would a demilitarised world look like?

if our systems and institutions were inherently compassionate and humane, inherently equitable, inherently designed to nurture people and help them thrive, what would that world look like? would violence be as prevalent as it is now?

in a world where sexual violence is endemic, it might seem like incarceration and other violent punitive measures are the only options.

do we have to live in that world forever? I don't believe we do.

prison abolition is part of a broader movement to change the way we think about concepts like justice. what does justice look like in a world where our relationship with our governing structures isn't one of fearful obedience, but one of caregiving and support?

the world doesn't *have* to be this way. our communities don't have to be this way. change is difficult and never fast enough or soon enough, but that doesn't mean it's impossible or not worth striving for.

a lot of people have also said to me, "well, what about the people who will never change? what do we do with them?"

I don't know. I don't know because I don't know if those people would still exist in a society that was more equitable and more compassionate.

I'm not a pacifist. I believe that when you're struck, you have the right to strike back. but prisons aren't *you* striking back. they're an arm of the state, and the state is violent too, often indiscriminately but sometimes all-too-discerningly.

what would it look like if instead of handing criminals over to the state, we handed them to the communities and people they harmed? what would it look like if we cared more about accountability than punishment?

the sources I linked in my last thread suggest that we might be pleasantly surprised by the results.

no system is perfect. but this system is *so* flawed as to be unsalvageable. there is no way to make the prison system fair and equitable.

something I think about a lot is that people with nothing but bad options can make nothing but bad choices. we live in a world that often gives people nothing but bad options: steal or starve, kill or be killed. is that a world worth preserving or salvaging?

rapists make a choice to rape. I am unfortunate enough to know that from experience. but what if rape wasn't a choice that was available to people? what would *that* world look like?

how will we know if we never try to create it?

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as a postscript, I want to stress that I don't think you're a bad person if you're a trauma survivor and completely disagree with all of this. we all process our trauma in different ways and wanting retribution does not make you bad or evil at all.

I would be lying if I said I never had fantasies of retribution. I had a dream about exactly that just last night: about violently punishing an abuser for what they did to me. I've been struggling with this in therapy for years. revenge feels *good*.

but when I look outside myself, what I ultimately want is more than revenge: I want a world in which what happened to me would be considered so reprehensible, so unacceptable, that the chances of it happening would be negligible. *that* would make me feel safe.

I have felt unsafe for such a long time. I want to live without that feeling constantly at the back of my mind, colouring every interaction with everyone I ever meet. it is so exhausting. I'm tired of feeling this way. I think most people are.

I want to live free of fear. that's what I want. and no amount of violent retribution will achieve that, so I have to look for other ways.