Evolving US Engagement as an Opportunity for Decolonial, Locally-Developed Anti-Carceral Approaches to Addressing Crime and Insecurity

• In Event: Rethinking U.S.-Global South Crime and Criminal Justice Partnerships in an Era of Disengagement

Abstract

While there is evidence that the US is disengaging from global affairs in some areas of criminological concern, academics and practitioners should not necessarily see this as a negative development. The US and other hegemonic northern powers provide foreign aid motivated by imperialist self-interest, using economic, political, and criminal legal aid to extract wealth and resources at the expense of southern populations, exacerbating insecurity and environmental destruction while enriching local elites. Resulting migration from the global south to the north has been increasingly criminalized, deepening insecurity further. Crime, gender-based violence, trafficking, terrorism, and other forms of insecurity are now labeled as development issues and incorporated into the sustainable development goals. This crime-development nexus promotes carceral solutions, including increasing the militarization and capacity of security sectors that abuse marginalized populations globally. From a decolonial lens, I emphasize the need for locally-devised and led non-carceral solutions to crime and insecurity that address root causes democratically. Given that this is highly unlikely to be supported by hegemonic powers, social movements, NGOs and other elements of civil society should resist continued exploitation; and academics should refuse to engage in carceral interventions while offering alternatives alongside and in solidarity with local populations.

Author

• Nathan W. Pino, Texas State University