Giving carceral safety logic the boot: Reimagining care-based safety in Aotearoa New Zealand

• In Event: The Logic of "Care" and Abolition

Abstract

Carceral safety logic positions justice institutions as a primary source of safety, and this logic dominates internationally and in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite its dominance as a solution to the crime ‘problem’, New Zealand Crime and Victim surveys signal that more people in the last five years are feeling increasingly unsafe. Recent political change in Aotearoa New Zealand has seen government commitments to the introduction of wide-reaching anti-gang legislation, ineffective youth justice policies such as bootcamps, and amendments to sentencing legislation that would result in a burgeoning prison population, all in the name of public safety. This paper problematises Aotearoa New Zealand’s reliance on carceral safety logic and argues that this logic perpetuates harm, particularly among already marginalised communities. Data gathered through semi-structured interviews with 16 participants who work or advocate for change in the justice system demonstrate a desired relational element of safety that is at odds with carceral safety logic. Both penal populists and penal abolitionists ultimately saw safety achieved through community-building and collective care. This paper promotes a reimagining of safety through sustainable care-based approaches that provide an overdue antidote to harm and violence in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Author

• Grace Gordon, Auckland University of Technology