Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract The community-based reform movement reinforces the harmful idea that government cannot improve people’s lives and therefore supports the private sector and the “community” as substitutes to robust public spending. The antistatist, pro-privatization, individual uplift approach to social policy is a key contributor to the development of punitive policies. Thus, turning to these same forces in an attempt to reform the juvenile justice system and address its harmful effects is woefully inadequate and largely counterproductive. The conclusion makes a case for alternatives that actually make a break from the political trends that drove the developments of mass incarceration. A real challenge to mass incarceration will require replacing devolution with robust centralized universal public goods; replacing privatization with democratic public control over policymaking, institutions, and services; replacing the individualization of social problems with a collective view of economic solidarity; and replacing punishment with meaningful safety and support.