As the end of the Trump presidency nears, a great deal of uncertainty remains surrounding the reform of the American criminal justice system. In an age of hypersensitivity, anyone can find anything under the sun offensive for reasons they fail to truly grasp. It is therefore abundantly obvious: a great deal of caution must be heeded when voicing opinions shrouded in controversy. To start, why have we failed to critically evaluate the overall effectiveness of social justice warrior activism? What have they achieved? What nuances turned ideas have they inspired to aid in shaping future legislation governing law enforcement & criminal justice going into the new decade?
Why are the vast majority of protests organized under aliases of social justice done through bleeding heart anecdotalism? Unfortunately, the haphazard convenience afforded by the latest community crisis typically occurs when police shoot a person of color. At least those capturing evening news headlines. Beyond slogans shouted through loudspeakers & phrases abbreviated into symbolic messages on placards, where are calls to concrete concerted public action on issues of recidivist rehabilitation? With that in mind, how are we to achieve the next great revolution in the struggle for civil rights in America? What proposition based program can curb zero-sum vanity in exchange for public discourse when discussing the deaths of criminal recidivists from demographically challenged backgrounds of color?
No concession of police defunding will solve the issue of recidivism among former felons. It is no secret: in America, we are better at punishing criminals than rehabilitating them. Why has the issue of criminal rehabilitation failed to enter social justice activist discourse? Why is it easier for former felons to commit petty acts of larceny at places like Target than it is to receive gainful employment there? According to a conservative 9 year follow up report between 2005-2014 from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 5 out of 6 released prisoners experience some form of recidivism 9 years after their release. Why have we failed to quote & echo such statistics when marching at our “look-at-me” protests?
Arguably, one of the greatest existential challenges poised before us this decade will begin & ultimately end with the integrity of the criminal justice system. Without criminal justice, there would be no law enforcement & vice versa, but police cannot enforce reforms that have yet to make it into law. Is it possible to evolve & ultimately develop activism using solution based justice through productive protestation? Communal disparities are often systemic which naturally supersedes minority demographic classification. As long as we remain committed to anecdotal activism supplanted by kneejerk reactionalism, the deeper disparities that ground systemic injustices in society, particularly among former felons, will remain.
It therefore goes without saying: the next police shooting is nothing short of an estranged eventuality. Thus, when it happens, how will we react? Will it have been proved to be preventable say if society afforded that poor soul turned recidivist perpetrator a second chance? An unknown Russian conscript from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan rephrased this truism as the Cold War thawed: “you can’t be a good soldier in a rotten war.” Can law enforcement officers in our inner city & suburban communities relate to such a sentiment in the sense that you can’t effectively keep the peace, preserve justice, & rehabilitate criminals in a system dedicated to quota based punishment?
We can begin by targeting Minnesota’s criminal justice system in an effort to set a broader example for the rest of the nation to follow. Parolees & prisoners awaiting release within the next 5-10 years for offences excluding sexual assault, child molestation, manslaughter, & excessively violent crimes can be targeted under an aggressive Clemency First Initiative. Rather than exploiting prisoners for slave like labor paid on a cents-per-hour basis, why not encourage colleges & universities statewide to collaborate on fielding degree & vocational training programs uniquely tailored to suit inmates in correctional facilities with taxpayer money? COVID-19 has effectively demonstrated what wonders distance learning programs can offer to public schools, why not apply similar methodologies to our state prisons?
If applied properly, correctional facilities can possibly prove to be havens of untapped & creative potential.
Imagine! The idea for a tech startup that began in prison through the power of a 2nd chance!