CALLESE

What do prison/jail abolitionist want instead of jail time for criminals like kkKyle rittenhouse?

Good question.

Firstly, jail/prison/police is not designed to provide justice. These systems exist to enforce white supremacy: they're the evolution of slave catchers & strikebreakers and forced labor camps. Why would that system punish those who act in the interest of white supremacy via lynching to defend private property and the idea of Black americans accepting genocide and enslavement against them.

Ideally, Kyl* would never have been indoctrinated to aspire to be a cop, to defend private property, or to be a vigilante in the name of state mandated law and order. This would require (1) the refutation of state propaganda and (2) democratic media (e.g. strong channels for dispersing abolitionist media, end of corporate or entertainment news, and the ability for small groups to share local news). This also requires (3) accessible leftist education (e.g. Black Panthers, mutual aid groups). Kyl* became this because of state education, capitalist media, ahistorical narratives of white heroes. The police to prison system empowers him to act on these as well, requiring (4) the demolition of police and prisons (police arrested him then set him free until the trial, they acted as they were created to do). This work is the bulk of abolition I believe.

Reacting to now, the mission of abolition does not change. Police and jails are institutions of administering white supremacy. Civilian lynching has always been a critical component of it (the kl*n is allowed to exist as a complement to police). Prison would not prevent more people like him nor reform him. For me, abolition includes the democratization of violence. Violence is a tool that the state claims only it can wield: women are jailed for killing their abusers while presidents are honored for bombing hospitals. Democratized violence means if the public wanted to beat the living shit of Kyl*, they can do so without retaliation from a sovereign state claiming rule over them. Police do not prevent mob violence, they regulate it to allow expressions of white power (Capitol riots, kyl*, Dyl*n Roof, school shootings).

This is a super condensed answer, but I can answer any good-faith follow up questions.

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Further readings and some of the sources of my ideas:

Could you recommend some anti-police literature for a newbie?

This [link] has a really good collection of articles on alternatives to police and how to create a world without police.

Here are some more articles and books:

The police: the case against - Polite Ire

Rebellion against police violence - toward community defense, dual power and revolution - First of May Anarchist Alliance

Stop kidding yourself: the police were created to control working class and poor people - Sam Mitrani

Our Enemies in Blue - Kristian Williams

Kropotkin - Law & Authority

Angela Davis - Are Prisons Obsolete?

Foucault - Discipline and Punish; the Birth of the Prison