2/6 In Seattle, socialist candidate Shaun Scott, who ran on an abolition platform, came within 1,386 votes of being elected to the city council. Another "abolitionist," Kirsten Harris-Talley, was appointed to the council a few years ago.
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3/6 While it might make stirring rhetoric for radicals, as a practical policy matter, police abolition begs the question: what happens next? Some activists argue that "community grants" to poor areas will stop crime; others argue that "peace circles" will replace law enforcement.
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4/6 Police abolitionists believe they are on the vanguard of a new idea, but in actuality, this strain of thought dates back to the radical philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who believed that, without the corruptions of civilization, man is good.
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5/6 But in the modern world, civilization cannot be rolled back and, if we were to abolish the police, there is no doubt the streets would become violent and chaotic.
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6/6 In this vacuum of power, wealthy neighborhoods would deploy a private police force and poor neighborhoods would organize around the organized violence of criminal gangs—hurting the very people that "police abolition" purports to help.
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