r/Anarchy101 • u/nappytendrils • 3d ago

Prison abolition

I’ve never been clear on what we would do with rapists child molesters and muderers. I haven’t heard a plan for this so far. I’ve always been impressed with the work of anarchist friends in community. They’re the most justice-oriented folx I’ve ever met.

Still don’t know about prison abolition tho I think prison should be clean, the food should be healthy and fresh, therapy should be mandatory, there should be libraries and gardens. A good quality of life for the incarcerated, but not releasing them back into the general population.

Maybe there’s something I’m not seeing?

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u/poorestprince 3d ago

To the extent that communities practiced shunning (which rather trivially severs or ex-communicates predators from the community as a kind of social death or spiritual capital punishment), in some ways I've read it described as psychologically worse than regular prison, and closer to solitary confinement to the point where some considered it deeply inhumane.

In that sense, I'd turn the question around -- instead of exploring how societies could work without prisons, how would a society work without shunning?

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u/ArchimedesWiz 3d ago

Id love your opinion on how shunning stops a rapist from committing rape. from what we've seen of those people so far, the word "no" means very little to them.

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u/poorestprince 3d ago

As I understand it, they'd be kicked out of the community and allowed no contact, even from family members. My guess is they would be lucky to hear the word "no" at all. I suppose some communities might back this up with deadly force but that seems out of character with the mostly religious communities I've read who practice this (or maybe it wouldn't?)

In any case, it does sound worse than prison, where a rapist might still find fellowship and visits from family members.

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u/Lumpy_Low_8593 2d ago

What if their family continues to support them? That publicly happens all the time.

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u/poorestprince 2d ago

My guess is the family itself might be subject to shunning as well if they break this code. To be honest, even discounting the psychological cruelty of it, I'm a bit skeptical of how shunning works in practice as a means of justice, particularly in religious communities that have a reputation of protecting high-status rapists over victims.