This paper was written for a seminar class called “Criminal Justice, Social Justice, and Community Justice” given at the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law.

This paper is a critique of how the state, the legal system, and the criminal justice system function in American society, and calls for an anarchist approach to our social structure that will remove the oppressive frameworks we currently live under.

To support my arguments, I will first provide an overview of how the criminal justice system works. From there I will offer an analysis on why the criminal justice system is flawed, and the racially discriminatory effect it has had on society. I will then discuss why the disproportionate number of minorities found in prison and impoverished in this country is directly tied to the contemporary ruling interests that were preserved by the U.S. Constitution. Showing that the system is inherently discriminatory, I propose an alternative method for viewing society through anarchism. I will spend time debunking myths regarding anarchism and explaining why it is a viable ideology. In the end, I will propose a restorative justice approach to criminal justice that requires neither the state nor the legal system.

To read/comment: An Anarchist Theory of Criminal Justice

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