Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (December 9, 1842 – February 8, 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism.

  • punkisundead [they/them]
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    7 months ago

    Im fine with detaining dangerous people, but it shouldn’t be arbitrarily awful.

    I dont want to start an argument, just add some thoughts and questions that i wouldnt be able to answer myself. I think I can understand this idea but I see many problems with it being implemented, because imo its just super hard to decide if someone is dangerous. And additionally, what exactly means dangerous, who decides if someone is dangerous or not dangerous anymore and is detainment really the best way in dealing with it or is it maybe just the easiest?

    Also I would like to add, detainment is like a super awful thing. You dont even have to make it worse on purpose for that.

    • JacobCoffinWrites
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      7 months ago

      I’m not the person you asked but these are questions I’ve been thinking about too as I grapple with discussions around abolition of police and prisons.

      I’ve known people who were driven to move states by a persistent and threatening stalker because nobody would do anything to stop the stalker, right up to a cop casually recommending they get a gun and take care of it themselves. I think the perception of ‘dangerousness’ is ripe for abuse, but I also I think if your society doesn’t have a mechanism for physically separating violent or threatening people from their victims, you’ll either get people trying to solve their problems through violence themselves, or you’ll end up with the Nazi bar problem, where decent members of your society flee your more problematic ones. The PTSD subreddit was full of discussions around the dread people felt at the impending date of their abusers being released from prison. Prisons are a terrible system, and I know the justice system puts victims through the wringer. But for some victims of abuse, rape, and other violence, knowing the people who hurt them cannot reach them seems to be pretty critical to their recovery and basic health. So how does a better society provide that basic safety?

      Exile seems tempting but I think it’s worse, it has the downsides of still cutting the person off from their life and any resources that helped them regulate or mitigate their behavior, with the added problem of basically foisting them on the society’s unprepared neighbors, and of being harder to enforce.

      Counseling without detainment may leave too much room for them to escalate, intimidate, or change tactics, at which point we’re kind of back to the victim either fleeing or taking matters into their own hands.

      I’d also love answers to this