Interrogating the Arguments Against Defunding or Abolishing Police

• In Event: Theoretical Advances in Critical Criminology

Abstract

There has been significant growth in social movements acting at the local, national, and international levels to defund and ultimately abolish policing. We have also seen a relatively recent increase in academic scholarship from both the Global North and South in support of police defunding and abolition. This growth in academic and larger societal support for defunding and abolishing police has been met with fierce resistance from policy makers and academics. The arguments against defunding and abolition from policy makers, and academic collaborators and apologists, include that there are evidence-based policing reforms and programs proven to be effective; that police are a public good and are needed to protect the public from violence in general and gender-based violence in particular; that those in favor of defunding and abolition are naïve and primarily from privileged backgrounds; and that defunding and abolishing the police would lead to societal disorder or even collapse. From a decolonial, feminist, and abolitionist perspective on policing, this paper debunks these various arguments often made against defunding or abolishing police. The paper also explores the motivations behind the arguments against abolition, including the social class and other interests of academics and policy-makers.

Author

• Nathan W. Pino, Texas State University, USA