zlacker

I'm completely shocked that the "defund the police" movement was where the progressive activists chose to dedicate their attention.

Whereas issues like you mention above, and trial reform in general, and prison system reform in general, would have wide bipartisan support.

It really makes me suspicious why activists and the media are not advocating for the things 90% of people would agree with. Is the other stuff just an intentional distraction so nothing gets fixed?

>>epicur+(OP)
The police is where you can get obvious, overwhelming evidence of abuse. It literally takes a man being murdered on video to move the needle, and even then you get a ton of pushback.

There are many prison reform movements, but none of them get any traction without such visceral, concrete, and shocking symbols. You hear about defunding the police because it's the only one with even a shred of a chance to accomplish anything at all.

People might agree with other improvements if a pollster asked them, but only because it's abstract. If they got any serious traction there would be an equivalent objection using the same tactics to defame and harass the people who were trying. And since it doesn't involve a death it will get chalked up to "both sides are bad" and dropped.

I'd love to see politics work on something more coherent and beneficial but we're way, way past that.

>>epicur+(OP)
Justice reform doesn't really matter to the suspect if he's killed being taken into custody.

>>epicur+(OP)
> the things 90% of people would agree with

Firstly, 90% dont agree with trial reform. Most conservatives and wealthy "liberals" do not care, but they are not the ones who suffer.

Secondly, "defund the police" helps solves trial reform by reducing the number of people pushed into trial on questionable grounds. Take this for example: >>37431962 -- this type of AI-driven precog system would not be funded if we defunded police departments. That means less people arrested/tried on pseudo-science grounds.

Similarly, less police means the police have to focus on the highest impact issues, rather than trying to go on dragnets and putting angent provaceteurs into the community to literally manufacture criminals.

>>epicur+(OP)
The problem with prison reform is politicans are incredibly afraid of being seen as "soft on crime". Paradoxically, this is especially true for democrats, because republicans are assumed to be tough on crime by default. Opposing prison reform is an easy way to seem tough on crime because convicts don't vote and most people aren't familiar with the prison system. Policing is more controversial, because a lot of people have had negative personal experiences with the police, and many are suspicious of government or authoritarianism.

>>epicur+(OP)
> trial reform in general, and prison system reform in general, would have wide bipartisan support.

They absolutely do not. You can see the split clearly in court decisions regarding the criminal justice system.