Criminalize Criminalization

Our Policy Approach

Criminalization is not an accident.

It is a political choice.

Across Arizona and the country, laws and policies have been built to punish survival, control communities, and normalize harm. Policing, detention, incarceration, deportation, and surveillance are not responses to danger—they are tools that have been expanded to manage poverty, migration, and inequality.

Criminalize Criminalization is PUDE’s policy approach to confronting this system at its root.

What We Mean by Criminalization

Criminalization is the process of turning everyday life into punishment.

It shows up when:

poverty is treated as a crime
migration is treated as a threat instead of a reality
minor violations are used to justify detention or incarceration
surveillance is expanded under the language of “public safety”
courts, jails, detention centers, and monitoring become profit-driven systems

These systems are often described as broken.

In reality, they are functioning exactly as designed.

Why We Say “Criminalize Criminalization”

When we say Criminalize Criminalization, we are flipping the question of responsibility.

Instead of asking why communities are being punished, we ask:

who designed these policies
who enforces them
who benefits from them
and who pays the cost

This approach shifts attention away from blaming people and toward holding harmful systems accountable.

It challenges the idea that punishment equals safety and asks whether criminalization has actually made communities healthier, safer, or more stable.

Safety Through Care, Not Punishment

PUDE believes real safety does not come from expanding enforcement.

Communities are safer when they have:

stable housing
access to healthcare and mental health support
education and economic security
community-based ways to resolve conflict
political power to shape decisions that affect them

Criminalize Criminalization pushes policy away from punishment and toward solutions that reduce harm before it happens.

From Community Experience to Policy Change

This approach is rooted in lived experience.

Through Comités del Barrio and the General Assembly of Barrios, communities:

identify policies that cause harm locally and statewide
document how enforcement impacts daily life
develop shared policy priorities
engage elected officials with clarity and discipline
support community-rooted leadership and initiatives

Policy should not be written about communities without them.

Criminalize Criminalization ensures the people most impacted shape the solutions.

Migration, Detention, and Human Rights

Immigration enforcement is one of the clearest examples of criminalization.

People are detained not because they are dangerous, but because systems are designed to treat migration as a crime. Detention often separates families, destabilizes communities, and creates long-term harm without improving safety.

Criminalize Criminalization challenges the expansion of immigration enforcement into local policing, courts, and public institutions, and centers human dignity and due process in policy decisions.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Criminalize Criminalization can include:

opposing policies that expand policing or detention
limiting the reach of enforcement into daily life
increasing community oversight and accountability
shifting public resources toward care-based solutions
redefining public safety around wellbeing, not punishment

This work is strategic, long-term, and rooted in coalition—while remaining clear about the harm criminalization causes.

Why This Matters

Criminalization isolates people, fragments communities, and normalizes harm. It teaches people to expect punishment instead of support.

Criminalize Criminalization insists on a different direction:

dignity over punishment
care over control
accountability over silence
community over fear

This is how communities move from surviving harmful systems to shaping policies that protect life.