What does defund the police actually mean?
1,335The Black Lives Matter protests in the US, which escalated in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, have brought the little-known but decades-old campaign to abolish US police into the spotlight. But what are abolitionists calling for, and how would a police-free society work? Josh Toussaint-Strauss explores the arguments for abolition with a campaigner from MPD150 and Reclaim the Block, and also Sam Levin, LA correspondent for Guardian US
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Sources:
Mapping Violence ► https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
Open Policing ► https://openpolicing.stanford.edu/
A large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police stops across the United States ► https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-0858-1
New York City budget ► https://council.nyc.gov/budget/
Crime clearance rate in the United States in 2018 ► https://www.statista.com/statistics/194213/crime-clearance-rate-by-type-in-the-us/
Evidence that curtailing proactive policing can reduce major crime https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0211-5
A large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police ►
stops across the United States https://5harad.com/papers/100M-stops.pdf
Researchers studied nearly 100 million traffic stops and found black motorists are more likely to be pulled over ► https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/21/us/police-stops-race-stanford-study-trnd/index.html
Further reading:
What are we talking about when we talk about “a police-free future? ► https://www.mpd150.com/what-are-we-talking-about-when-we-talk-about-a-police-free-future/
Reclaim the block ► https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/
What does 'defund the police' mean? The rallying cry sweeping the US – explained ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/05/defunding-the-police-us-what-does-it-mean
'It's not about bad apples': how US police reforms have failed to stop brutality and violence ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/16/its-not-about-bad-apples-how-us-police-reforms-have-failed-to-stop-brutality-and-violence
19 dead in a decade: the small American city where violent police thrive ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/13/vallejo-california-police-violence-sean-monterrosa
Minneapolis lawmakers vow to disband police department in historic move ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/07/minneapolis-city-council-defund-police-george-floyd
Who do you serve, and who do you protect? ► https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27131078-who-do-you-serve-who-do-you-protect-police-violence-and-resistance-in
Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition ► https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52979663-change-everything?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=mDAuPWLLlN&rank=2
Cities Ask if It’s Time to Defund Police and ‘Reimagine’ Public Safety ► https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/defund-police-floyd-protests.html
"We don't have time to wait": Minneapolis anti-police brutality organizer Kandace Montgomery on defunding the police ► https://theintercept.com/2020/06/05/defund-the-police-minneapolis-black-visions-collective/
Defund the Police ► https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/defund-police/612682/
Defunding the Police Is Good Climate Policy ► https://newrepublic.com/article/157984/defunding-police-good-climate-policy
How Police Unions Became Such Powerful Opponents to Reform Efforts ► https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/us/police-unions-minneapolis-kroll.html
On The Path Toward Police Abolition ► https://medium.com/@deray/on-the-path-toward-police-abolition-c8b91137024b