The Language of Liberation: Re-imagining punitive justice in New Orleans
Community Reporting Fellow Kennedy London explores the concept of punitive justice and alternatives to punishment and punishing.
Behind This Story | Louisiana currently has the second highest imprisonment rate in the nation, but our communities don’t feel any safer. What are the alternatives to mass incarceration? The Language of Liberation is a community resource produced by the Fall 2023 Community Reporting Fellows to make information on the prison abolition movement more accessible to community members so that we can begin to answer that question. This guide is part of a larger reporting series on youth incarceration and abolition. The guide features definitions of abolition terms, as well as the perspectives of local abolitionists. Have questions or comments? Email us at ledeneworleans@gmail.com.
By Kennedy London
There are many different reasons why people commit crimes. The reasons one person breaks the law are never exactly the same as the next because everyone comes from different circumstances and has different experiences. Punitive justice — the ideology that drives our criminal legal system — doesn’t really take that into account.
The concept behind punitive justice is straightforward: the primary way to deal with criminality is through harsh punishment. While researching the concept of punitive justice last fall, I learned that the goal of a punitive justice system is not just correcting the person who is convicted of criminal behavior through sentencing and imprisonment. It’s also important for the punishment to warn those who are on the outside to not to go down the same path. This is what “rehabilitation” looks like in a punitive justice system. In my view, if the goal of imprisonment is to punish the person, then the word rehabilitation should not be used to describe what we’re doing.
Why are we as a society so quick to be judge, jury and executioner? Why do we jump at the opportunity to punish others?
Through my reporting, I have learned that a culture of fear and authority are critical in order for punitive justice to work. The punitive justice system’s zero-tolerance approach to “rehabilitation” is eerily similar to the way school discipline policies are designed in New Orleans. As someone who grew up and attended public school in New Orleans, discipline policies seem designed to assert authority over students in all areas and make sure the general population stays in line. When there are rulebreakers, no matter what their unique situation, they must be made an example of.
In this kind of system, there is no relationship between justice and accountability from what I can see. Justice is punishment and it comes first and at whatever cost. The individual person who commits a crime doesn’t have healthy alternatives to grapple with their decisions and the harm they’ve caused.
Community Voices: Kai Werder
What would a criminal legal system that factors rehabilitation into the equation look like? I spoke with Kai Werder, deputy director at The Center for Restorative Approaches in New Orleans, to learn more about alternatives to punitive justice.
The Center for Restorative Approaches, founded in 2008, works with local schools, workplaces and other communities to provide training, consulting and facilitation in restorative justice practices. Those practices include dialogue circles, which bring people together to talk about experiences–including crime, harm and injustices–in a safe, facilitated environment. The goal, Werder said, is to build up methods for ensuring accountability and resolving conflict in the community.
Werder noted most of us experience institutionalized punitive responses starting as children in school. Common consequences in education like suspensions, detentions and isolated work time are often reactive and more about punishing behavior than addressing the root of the behavior, they said.
Research shows punitive responses alone can lead to children acting out even more and have a negative impact on their mental health. (My own experience in New Orleans public schools taught me that all the school rules–from uniform codes to rules on talking–must be followed and that wiggle room is scarce.)
“You’re afraid the next time you make a mistake or you cause harm to actually own up for it, because you want to avoid punishment,” Werder said.
In the long term, the punitive approach can also push young people into the school-to-prison pipeline. What if punitive approaches were at least coupled with restorative justice approaches like dialogue circles?
What is happening in local schools reflects the larger criminal legal system. If the foundational idea behind punitive justice is that criminals must be punished, the entire premise of “prison-as-rehabilitation” is flawed. Punishment is the point and the lesson–if there is one–comes well afterward.
Research shows that higher incarceration rates do not actually translate to lower crime. According to the Vera Institute, factors like the aging population, increased wages and employment, increased graduation rates, and changes in policing strategies are more closely linked with lower crime rates.
Werder added that creating harsher criminal sentences and building larger prisons does not translate to safer neighborhoods because it doesn’t address why a person commits the crime and how it has impacted others in their community. Rehabilitation isn’t a part of the equation.
Werder, who studied social work at Tulane University, said they and others are working to build an “ecosystem of care” that offers alternatives to punitive justice in New Orleans and in cities nationwide.
How do we break out of the cycle of fear and lack of accountability, and adopt productive alternatives instead? After speaking with Werder, I realized that we need a larger cultural shift in Louisiana and the United States in order to change the modus operandi of incarceration in America. We need to first look inward and ask why we feel harsh punishment is the answer.
Click here to learn more about The Center for Restorative Approaches and their work.
Kennedy London is a journalist from New Orleans. London studied English at Morehouse College and served as arts and entertainment editor at The Maroon Tiger, the college newspaper. London is a Fall 2023 Community Reporting Fellow at Lede New Orleans.
Nijah Narcisse is a New Orleans born-and-bred creative writer and journalist, and an alumni of the Community Reporting Fellowship at Lede New Orleans. Narcisse produced this piece.
This article is available to republish under a Creative Commons license. Read Lede New Orleans’ publishing guidelines here.
Support Lede New Orleans and its community-centered reporting by becoming a supporting donor.
To get weekly emails with New Orleans stories and events, sign up for Lede New Orleans’ newsletter.
