Moving Target: A Decade of Resistance To The Prison Industrial Complex

For the past 10 years, Critical Resistance has helped advocates imagine the possibility of a world without bars. By questioning the necessity and effectiveness of the very foundations of our criminal justice system—incarceration, surveillance, policing—Critical Resistance has furthered the notion that nothing can “fix” the criminal justice system. Instead, if our country is to truly reclaim its communities, the criminal justice system must be dismantled. There is no “fix”
for a system built on racism and fear and actualized through the social control of the poor. As a result of Critical Resistance and other groups’ community organizing, activists and stakeholders throughout the country recognize that there is no correlation between crime and punishment in this country and safe and vibrant communities. Despite evidence that investments in prisons and policing are not effective in increasing public safety, the prison industrial complex (PIC) continues to consume considerable governmental resources. In fact, history shows that states that increase their funding for the PIC do not necessarily see crime rates drop any more than states that do not. More specifically, we now know that increasing prison and jail populations
does not produce lower crime rates
Justice Policy Institute