By Against the Grain Radio
If the problem is violence against women, is the solution the criminal justice system? Many anti-violence activists look to the police, prisons, and stepped-up criminalization for help and protection. Beth Richie says that's a misguided approach, one that feeds the buildup of the prison nation. Richie describes the contours of the prison nation and the threats it poses to women on the margins.
Beth Richie is a professor of Criminal Justice and Gender and Womens Studies at the University of Illinois, and a leader in the movement to abolish prisons and roll back the prison state.
Overcrowded jail, prison and immigration detention facilities force people together in close quarters without access to proper hygiene or medical care.
With 2.3 million people in the United States in prison or jail on any given day, an outbreak in these facilities poses a threat to the entire country.
This policy is unconscionable and flagrantly against international law. It is imperative that the U.S. lift these immoral and illegal sanctions.
From welfare queens and super predators to “Bernie brothers,” the democratic establishment is never short of boogeymen.
We have traded our interests in for “electability” and “anybody but Trump.”
