We Need To Rethink Justice 

"The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation." ~ Emma Goldman

My favorite thing about your videos is that instead of simply railing against the current system, you imagine what the alternatives look like.

“A world where the harm people may perpetuate will be addressed with consideration for the needs of the victim, perpetrator, and community alike.” -YES, I’ve been trying to explain this stance for ages, thank you for this concise wording 🙏

This part: "where people struggle for THEIR WHOLE LIVES due to lack IN AN AGE OF ABUNDANCE"...

Justice is many things but it isn't blind.

"Restorative justice" has become a buzz word in education over the past few years in the States. But it's a joke. The system is used to sweep sometimes very serious actions by students under the rug, and even when well-meaning staff members try to implement it, it falls flat without the support of the community. One of the more difficult aspects of developing a justice system is that every person has their own values and their own idea of what is/causes harm and how to address it. As a teacher, I regularly have to speak to students about retaliation because many of their parents will teach them they have to "hit back" and "defend themselves". Then there are kids who are taught that you always solve a problem by running to a teacher, which is often important, especially if there is danger, but in milder situations it stops them from developing their own conflict solving skills. I spend all day teaching students what harm is and when something is or isnt a big deal. But this is something most adults fundamentally disagree on, and they get conflicting messages at home. That is the hardest thing to solve when it comes to developing a justice system in my opinion.

On your point regarding the systemic effect of sexual violence perpetrated against men: couldn't it be argued that while the violence itself might not be a manifestation of patriarchal violence, the reaction the victimized party receives is? Because society already views victimhood and vulnerability as inherently feminine and therefore deserving of scorn and derision and we already see this in action with the way non-men are mocked and gaslit and silenced when they speak out about the abuse they've endured. But even then I'm noticing that somehow when men come forward about being harmed in this way their suffering is treated as even more of a joke, like a failure on their part to "be a man". Would you consider that to be a manifestation of patriarchal violence the same way non-men experience patriarchal violence? I really hope my question makes sense. I learned quite a lot from this video and I appreciate the way you explain things

"Justice is balance between people. Guaranteeing that no one is mistreated and guaranteeing the person who needs the most help gets it." -Neely Fuller Jr.

“I believe that Justice and mercy are simply one and the same thing without justice to the full there can be no mercy and without mercy to the full there can be no justice.”- George MacDonald

I highly recommend studying Timothy Murithi's article: "An African Perspective on Peace Education: Ubuntu lessons in reconciliation" for a glimpse at the justice system which prevailed in Southern Africa among Bantu-speaking peoples.

Great video! As always, well thought out and laid out. The difference between violence and domination is one that will help me in conversations with pro-status-quo-ers about justice, how we deal with it, and how we could be dealing with it. Thanks!

I agree on pretty much all your points, but some kind of prison system is needed, especially in the worst of cases. An environment of rehabilitation entirely separate from the standard community is needed for both those who are entirely unrepentant for terrible acts, and for those who would be unable to become better in normal society without causing further harm to others. I appreciate how any prison system is the complete antithesis to anarchist theory, but there's a fella out there who did a terrible act of sexual violence to my mother before I was born, and I truly believe he shouldn't renter the regular world until everyone's damn sure it's not gonna happen again.

Here after reading that the hero Aaron Bushnell used to watch your videos. He lived and died for justice and I hope Palestine gets justice soon, whether that be in our lifetime or not. I am glad he led me to find your channel, whenever I watch you I will think of him.

Andrew, please keep putting out these videos. You are raising consciousness. Ignore those that dismiss them as utopian thinking. Metaphorically speaking, Utopia is always the best destination - no matter how far we may need to travel.

For a just world, we absolutely need to move away from a system that prioritizes rewards and punishments as a set of incentives. And to replace that with caring for each other. Justice looks so different if we're invested in each others' long term futures

i really like what you do, both in the sense of what your mission is, as well as what your means are. i find it paramount to define the words one uses; especially when the words are as loaded as 'justice' or 'violence', yet i feel like the definition of violence you provided is insufficient as far as it explicitly only concerns the use physical power, while i see and feel the use of psychological power used for a great deal of violence (especially, but not only, from states). as a trans person, for example, i regularly see people trying to make my existence 'worthy of capital punishment' or just impossible. and i feel that that idea, and the rhetoric around it not only implies, but also by itself is, a great deal of violence

I think the concept of a 'bad person' is the most interesting part of this. How do we determine if someone is irredeemable? And what would it mean to 'remove' them?

an egalitarian approach to justice if you will.... great content as usual.

You are a great man and you inspired me to speak up as well; I am now doing videos more than I ever have

Another great question is: how do/did societies with no prisons deal with crime? There are horror stories about many of those, but also examples of deep wisdom we all can learn from. Did you know in some African tribes not only a thief of say a cow would be called to court, but also his village. They would be asked: what did you do as village that this man needed to steal a cow? Or one where a whole village will surround a murderer with love until they break down in tears and start healing. So why does our justice system look so much like ritualised revenge, which doesn't solve any issue, not even help prevent criminals to strike again?

This clarifies so many things, especially how toxic power is to this process.

So excited to hear this wisdom & truth! Thank you for starting this conversation 💛

As a survivor & someone who also tries to hold myself accountable, I really appreciate this video 🌸

_Solarpunk Justice_ that seeks the truth and loves us living creatures! A delight, it is

I'm suspicious of the word justice because too often it means revenge. Even reworkings of the term like "restorative justice" or "social justice" keep the stink of harm about them - they're terms of practical compromise that ultimately often include taking something away. I think all we can and should expect from "justice" is that we try to be fair to each other and protect each other. We need a different word for that. Let vengeance be its own concept, even if it's depersonalized via society and a court system.

In his book "Island", Aldous Huxley somehow addresses the "bad people" issue. Not in the sense of what to do with people who already went bad but in regards of admiting there are certain kinds of personalities which are naturally prone to an agressive behaviour. What the utopian society the book describes proposes is using this energy for constructive purposes. That in a formative stage (education of the individuals), not by repressing but by validating and offering positive contexts where to release this energy as to avoid people going bad in a later stage. I liked that idea and those in the book as a whole. Great video, as all of Andrew's. Thanks, dude.

There are many small-scale initiatives that individuals and communities can take to promote mutual respect and personal responsibility. Here are a few examples: Community gardens: Community gardens bring together people from diverse backgrounds and promote cooperation and shared responsibility for a common goal. Neighborhood watch programs: Neighborhood watch programs encourage individuals to look out for one another and take responsibility for the safety of their community. Recycling and waste reduction initiatives: Recycling and waste reduction initiatives promote environmental responsibility and can bring communities together around a shared commitment to sustainability. Restorative justice programs: Restorative justice programs emphasize mutual respect and personal responsibility in addressing conflict and harm within communities. Mentorship programs: Mentorship programs provide opportunities for individuals to learn from and support one another, promoting a culture of mutual respect and personal responsibility. Volunteering and community service: Volunteering and community service provide opportunities for individuals to give back to their community and take responsibility for the well-being of others. Civic engagement: Civic engagement, such as participating in local government, voting, and advocating for issues that affect one's community, encourages individuals to take an active role in shaping their society and taking responsibility for its outcomes. Here are some practical steps that can be taken to promote and implement small-scale initiatives in America: Identify the issue: Identify a local problem that needs to be addressed, such as a lack of access to healthy food options or a need for community cleanup efforts. Connect with others: Reach out to others in your community who are also interested in addressing the issue. This can be done through social media or local community groups. Plan and organize: Work with your group to create a plan of action, including specific goals and tasks that need to be accomplished. Gather resources: Identify the resources you'll need to accomplish your goals, such as volunteers, funding, and supplies. Take action: Put your plan into action, starting with small steps that can build momentum over time. Evaluate and adjust: Regularly evaluate your progress and adjust your approach as needed to ensure that you're making a meaningful impact. Document and share: Document your efforts and share them with others through social media, local news outlets, or community events. This can help to inspire others to get involved and make a difference in their own communities.

Yes. Something I would add as a downside of punishment is the straightforward yet often ignored fact that someone has to do the punishment, I'm not talking of an institution but an individual: if you want someone wiped or beheaded; someone would have to do the wiping and beheading, and god knows not me nor any other healthy person would do such a traumatizing job willingly. Sadly a very common consequence of we living in the modern world is that our corrupting institutions are so naturalized that we don't think about them, not they workers not they victims. Person transgressive/bad? Just send them to the hospital/ward/prison and don't ever think about the issue again! For many reasons punishment might end up being a neccesity, but please lets avoid fetichizing the damn thing. Punishment requires victims, punishment requires victims.

Justice doesn't exist, nothing can "make-up" for bad things: bad things, once created, exist in the past forever, and exist in the present for as long as we allow it to. A "just world", as in a world organized perfectly for justice, wouldn't care about bad stuff being created as long as more bad stuff is created, in compensation, to give to the people creating bad stuff. Screw justice, I'd rather pursue a world which works to minimize as much bad and create as much good as possible, thank you. Edit: this is in agreement with the video, and not intended to be an argument in disagreement with it. Lets work for Utopia!

I think that before defining justice, we should first define what "identity" is And what type of identity desrves to be accepted Edit: just to clarify, I'm talking about ideas people consider part of their identity that are harmful to others

I really appreciated you getting in to the details on the characteristics and behaviors of people for whom this new type of justice will be most effective and what are signs it may not. I've been mulling on that for a while as I try to incorporate it into my personal life. Very useful!

Always love your videos, they give me things to think about

Excellent analysis! I will say though that I do see where women’s abuse of men can have ties to patriarchy in the narratives we tell about male victims/survivors. The silencing of male survivors stems from a slew of patriarchal expectations on what men do and do not do as well as what women are perceived to be capable of. I work with SA survivors for a living and can see the ways patriarchy backfires on men because it was never put into place to make them happy in reality. It follows a script that they can follow it with much more large scale success than say a woman wielding internalized misogyny against another woman but the thing is patriarchy never accounts for men to deal with trauma of any kind. This isn’t to say I think you are wrong, just my insights from this video. Keep up the dope work, my dude!!

I find the conversation of what to do about the "truly bad person" to be one of the least productive ones to have in the context of justice. It focuses all of our attention onto the tail end of a bell curve, and distorts our whole view of what justice can or should be. I see this especially in a lot of laws named after certain people, or laws passed after certain crimes. The movement towards trying children as adults began in New York after one such case, involving a kid who indiscriminately murdered multiple individuals on the subway. The sensationalization of the crime, and the subsequent realization that he would be released after aging out of the juvenile justice system, lead the legislature to pass a law to "deal" with such outlier cases involving "truly bad" kids. The result, predictably, has been an explosion of cases where children have been tried as adults for a variety of crimes of varying severity. As one might expect, it has hit Black children especially hard, as they are already seen as more mature and culpable for their actions than white children. We need a justice system that produces the fairest, most just results for the greatest number of people, victims included. The state has shown time and time again that it can't be trusted to execute such a vision, or even anything approaching it.

Your videos have done more than any other resource to help educate me and reinforce my appreciation of these ideals. The literature and counter arguments (and counter-counter arguments, etc.) can often feel overwhelming, and I'm not always sure if I'm jumping into the right readings or what context I may be missing. The way you organize and present material is so logical and thorough yet clear! And it gives me the vocabulary and perspective to do deeper dives for further education afterwards, which is a rare gift all on its own. Thank you so much for all you do.

"Justice is the source of all other virtues" Marcus Aurelius.

I'm in a particularly lonely and tired stage of my life and these videos give me something I feel like I can rest with

i really like the art you chose for this video ❤

Thank you Andrewism. You are a LEGEND- appreciate the knowledge shared always

Thank you for talking about this! It's so important

I love the art you choose for your videos.

One video and I'm still panicking but not getting worse. Another and I'm realising that I'm actually finding a foothold on my anxiety and my goals. Three videos and you've helped me to achieve (just today's "small steps") what I feared would take many more hours or days. Not just cos you have such a soothing prosody and voice, but cos you always share with us how to keep the ability to hope and to keep on fighting. Endless thanks, as ever. And, as ever... Peace.

This is a great introduction. I was talking with an anarchist friend of mine recently about how the Left needs to engage more with issues of justice. Why are we not offering working class more opportunities to avoid social conflict within their communities? It is, as you say in regards to transformative justice, hard work.

Love it when there’s crossover with my favourite RU-vid creators! Olay is great!

commenting for support/engagement as i can't watch this video in full at the moment, but i look forward to doing it soon

I don't believe in "bad people" but I do believe there are a rare few who, for whatever reason, will not ever stop their harmful behavior. One perspective I've been learning about is the concept of the wendigo. Not the horror movie version but the Anishinaabe concept. I'm reading "Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future" by Patty Krawec, and in it she relates the story of Jack Fiddler, an Ojibwe leader. In 1907 he and his brother were arrested by the Canadian police and charged with the murder of a woman named Wahasakapeequay. Fiddler and other members of the community believed she was possessed by a wendigo. Now I don't have the background or education to speak confidently on what that means, but as I understand it, the wendigo represents a pattern of violent or cannibalistic behavior triggered by extreme conditions of stress and starvation. The Fiddler brothers attempted to drive out the spirit but failed. As I understand it, they believed Wahasakapeequay was a threat to the community who could not be stopped any other way, so they killed her. The Canadian state did not recognize the validity of their remedy and responded with violence of its own.

Very good video, cuts through to the core of what justice should be.

You can make a lensless monocle by poking a needle hole in something to look through. Works for any prescription. Works best with plenty of light. Business cards are a good thickness for it

I appreciate you taking issues like abuse seriously. I do believe it would be less common if we removed so many institutional harms first, but manipulative and abusive behaviors need to be considered. And I appreciate that you did

Let’s not forget about violence against non-human animals. When we let that happen, it is a short path to justifying violence against humans. Speciesism is another form of institutionalized violence that is creating havoc on our planet’s environment and climate. When any form of violence is tolerated and even encouraged, it is easy to use exploitation of « lesser beings » to reach someone’s goals of money and greed. In case of non-human animals, the people seeking to expose the real violence behind closed doors are treated like the worst terrorists even if they are peacefully trying to show what is really going on. « If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everybody would be vegetarian » - Paul McCartney.

I appreciate this comprehensive breakdown of justice. I agree that there may not be a panacea just yet because of human's natural tendency to use the easiest/laziest solution for complex problems. When we can do enough thorough research without judging others for their nuanced life histories, harms, and weaknesses, I believe we may develop more adept and adaptive strategies to support people of a wide variety of situations. However, this will require a long game strategy in which more people learn the skills necessary to point out the injustices in effective ways for policymakers, stakeholders, and key decision makers are swayed not just by the data, but by proposed solutions.

yay!

The legal system is so archaic and unscientific.

This was a masterclass. Like, this should be the first thing you send someone who is skeptical of anarchism, not just justice reform.

Amazing video as always brother keep it up

I'm glad you are here making RU-vid videos instead of implementing these failed ideas. It's fun and interesting to think about these things nonetheless.

I've largely stopped watching leftist video essayists because I realized that many of them tend to just rehash the same ideological soundbites ad nauseum, telling their audiences what to think rather than encouraging them to change how they think. After watching this and a few of your other videos though, I think I'm going to stick around for your content. You do a really good job presenting radical concepts in very causal, down-to-earth ways that don't rely on esoteric theory-dumping and I think most people would be open to at least hearing. This video in particular reminded me a lot of how I try to explain police and prison abolition to people.

Never once did I ever think I would hear Drew say "ya gotta let the dogs breathe"🤣🤣🤣

Is roasting people a transgression? Because if it is well damn I might have to serve some time in the future.

Yet another certified banger. Keep telling it the way you see it, I think you've got the right idea.

Excellent work, thank you so much for sharing the perspective. I agree

As implied in the video, true justice can only happen by ending othering. One step we can take is to develop more complex interdependent relationships without hierarchy.

Excellent

I loveeee your accent I can listen to you talk all day man (oop, I have)

Love this video... it's what my brain rumors about constantly, put together so well vocalized.

the problem with trying to base something as core as the justice system on multiplex relationships is that such things cannot consistently happen, and indeed would either die entirely or kill if you tried to force it, within the dense complex society which allows for career specialization. the kind of society you need to have and keep the internet and such. such societies will by default exceed the Dunbar number and either the society will splinter or people will just default to monoplex relationships based on the society's core values or themes.

Do you think you could do a video comparing and contrasting mediators and authority figures

Please say it louder! This is the video I've been looking for! So much concise and clear information delivered so perfectly. The artwork is also so beautiful and poignant to what you're talking about. Thank you for making this!

I'm quoting my professor of philosophy of law here: "'justice' is nothing more than vengeance or, so to speak, an institutionalised form of vengeance. So it is, that the term 'justice' stems from the name of the Roman goddess of vengeance, 'Justitia"'.

25:12 100%. Any system of dealing with "literally baseline evil" people needs to be able to deal with them being In Control as much as somebody can be of that system, and, well, the most clear solution is to minimize how much sombody is able to be In Control of it.

Part of the fundamental issue with figuring out a system of justice is that the human intuitive notion of fairness contains contradictions. The field of study that has explored this the most is probably electoral science, and Arrow's Impossibility Theorem is an instructive, formal example of these inherent contradictions.

* in Canadian Kermit voice * Anarchy sounds wonderful, but have you seen lobsters? How can human beings be expected to live in harmony in an unstructured society when creatures as advanced as the lobster live in a social dominance hierarchy? Something something Carl Jung, something something Solzhenitsyn.

Restorative justice✅

Anti nomian hours and I’m here for it!

I needed this my brother… Much 💗 from Bermuda

When it comes to how to deal with criminals, give grace to the humble and resist the proud of heart.

"They are evil"? "We are righteous"? These terms have always changed throughout the course of history. Kids who have never seen peace and kids who have never seen war have different values! Those who stand at the top determine what's wrong and what's right... Justice will prevail you say?! But of course it will! Whoever wins the war... Becomes justice.

Psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists are, unfortunately for everyone else, real. Any discussion of a more just world does need to address questions of how to mitigate the harm caused by such individuals. As you point out though, it's plain to see that our current system of punitive justice worsens the problems they cause. We need something better.

thanks for this video!

A great video with a very important message and very good info. Nice work.

Just because an idea won't prevent all crime, is not reason enough not to try to implement change. I hate how prevalent this excuse is.

This is a quite well thought out assessment.

💜💚

States cannot be abolished even if they manically disappeared everywhere they will gradually come back because in one form as a state or another as a corporate dystopia, an entity with a monopoly over force will eventually come on top no matter what. Unless radical steps that don’t not include abolishing the state are taken.

Interesting video. However, I am really interested in what you mean by "community"? Is it a neighborhood, a street, a city? And how can we ensure that the current conservative societal dynamics will not prevail in, let's say, a community of a small village town. I find many concepts from this video interesting, but I have seen too many examples of how victim of, say, rape, gets blamed for ruining a life of a decent man. What could you do to make sure that it doesn't happen? After all, particularchy and national discrimination and all kinds of other stuff can't be diminished in a day, they will affect people's opinions for decades from now!

I will say that as someone who has participated in sevral mediated sessions of something that happened due to a work place conflict at a non-profit that had some key focus on restorative justice I really wish I had known some of the problems with the idea as after a sevral medieated sessions the final focus being more on the social peice end kinda socailly forcing one of the parties to just have to later quitly leave the company with an overall lack of support from co-workers to them. It sucked. I wish I had known some of its short comings as it could have helped verbalize what was happening in the situation and maybe helped with a better outcome.

Justice is just vengeance with velvet gloves. And right now.... those velvet gloves need to come off or we lose our hands.

The way through has always included the crafting of a new legal framework

In the "bad people" segment, you suggested removing positions of power so there isn't a position that they can exploit. I found that a very clever and thoughtful understanding how people will adapt to any system they're put in. I'll note, that whether these people exist or not, I would think that any kind of justice system would need to be able to handle this caricature. While I liked your thought on removing positions of power, power imbalance between people happens in any social gathering - we respect certain people's opinions more than others on certain topics, and with good reason. Some people know better than us on certain topics. Obviously, this is on an individual level whereas you were talking about a far larger scale. But it indicates to me that there's some nuance to carve out. I am very far removed from this field, but I can't not be interested in a better future, and very much enjoy your videos and find my critical understanding grow each time I watch them. Hoping my thoughts can help others grow theirs.

You've passed a positive judgement, however general, against [unspecified] systems. How can this be if you don't understand justice? Are you perhaps being unjust in your condemnations (in part)? How would you know? You didn't once talk about/consider what justice is. Sure you enumerated eminently desirable states of affair, but not what makes them desirable, what makes them right....

10:47 crime isn’t just about going against the state Crime like robbery is a crime one person does to another

Love your channel!

Excellent video, comrade!

I really like the Tollan law from SG1. I mean, they were going to let Kor'el, a Goa'uld, argue on his own behalf against Skaara, his host and slave body. Seems pretty fair. Abusable, certainly. I'm not saying there aren't bug patches needed.. But still a good starting point.

Babe wake up, new Andrewism video just dropped

Great video as always. Mostly commenting for engagement.

For the algorithm

I love the visuals you use in your videos. What artist created those works in your degrowth video?

Another great video!

TRUE!