Interrupting Criminalization (IC) is an initiative led by researchers Mariame Kaba and Andrea J. Ritchie. The project aims to interrupt and end the growing criminalization and incarceration of women, girls, trans, and gender nonconforming people of color for criminalized acts related to public order, poverty, child welfare, drug use, survival and self-defense, including criminalization and incarceration of survivors of violence.
Over the last three years IC has been working at the intersections of abolition and healthcare to develop the Beyond Do No Harm Principles, organizing health care providers, public health workers, and researchers to recommit to caring for people by refusing to participate in criminalization:
End police and ICE presence in hospitals and in or near health care facilities
End information gathering and documentation that is not directly relevant or related to the person’s course of care
End screening and testing without explicit and informed consent
End the practice of calling police on suspicion of fraudulent identification documents
Stop calling police on people with unmet mental health or medical needs
Stop calling police on people in possession of, distributing, or using drugs
End mandated reporting
Stop supporting prosecution in cases against people who manage their own care or offer community-based care, fail to seek care, refuse care, or fail to disclose their private medical information
Stop participating in or supporting prosecution in cases of transmission of infectious diseases, including HIV
Stop participating in or supporting prosecution in cases related to drug use or overdose
Stop providing and/or sanctioning substandard/violative care for people who are in custody or incarcerated in jails, prisons, detention centers, residential centers, group homes, and state facilities
Stop punishing other health care providers, public health workers, and researchers by calling police on them, reporting them for disciplinary action, or terminating their employment for their refusal to participate in systems of harm
Stop collaborating with the criminal punishment system to violate people in custody, including through performing cavity searches at the request of police or prison officials; evaluating competency to stand trial; experimenting on and sterilizing people who are incarcerated; facilitating torture; or administering the death penalty.
We believe that trust is essential for health care. Criminalization in the context of seeking health care deters patients from seeking out necessary care and assistance out of fear of surveillance or persecution by law enforcement, child welfare, or immigration authorities. Moreover, participating in criminalization is not aligned with accepted medical, midwifery, and other healing philosophies, ethics or standards of care and almost always involves violating the principles of confidentiality and informed consent.
Therefore, we are asking health providers, public health workers, and researchers to be bold -- to refuse to participate in criminalization and recommit to caring for people.
