[yoavm]

I'm sorry if it's a stupid question, but I'm not American and not a native English speaker. What do you mean when you say "Abolish the police"? You think there shouldn't be police at all? Or that it needs a reform? Do you disagree with the idea of having laws? I'm genuinely asking because I'm seeing this phrase more and more now and I'm not sure what people actually mean when they say that.

[currymj]

the argument is that there shouldn't be police forces as we know them today -- that the whole issue of crime and punishment should be handled completely differently, with communities organizing themselves to prevent malicious activity. typically this argument goes along with the idea of abolishing prisons as well, and ending incarceration as punishment for crimes.

it's not a completely ridiculous idea -- there have been many societies throughout history that didn't have formal professional police forces, but still had functioning legal systems. it's also particularly appealing in the US because the police and prison systems here have such severe problems and seemingly cannot be reformed.

(unclear whether it could actually work at a large scale in the modern world, but I can see some of the appeal.)

police and prison abolition have also just become buzzwords, so sometimes people just use them to express frustration, or to describe what are really reforms.

[yoavm]

Thank you very much for this detailed explanation. What societies do you have in mind that had a legal system but no formal policing force? Would be interesting to learn more about it. I remember the concept of police appears even in the bible, so I assumed it was pretty much always there.

[currymj]

One example is England up until the 19th century, which had a well-established court system but no formal police departments, just unpaid constables, local militias, etc. I think it was probably similar in many other parts of Europe. I'm not an expert on the history by any means, though.