Criminalizing the Customs of the Poor
The enforcement of “quality of life” laws against loitering, public drinking, and turnstile jumping is the modern codification of the customary law governing the “native.” Mamdani’s concept of decentralized despotism is enacted by the NYPD through these arbitrary ordinances. These laws do not target actions that are inherently harmful, but rather the very presence and survival strategies of the poor in public space. They criminalize poverty itself, turning economic status into a crime. This is a mechanism for managing and displacing populations deemed undesirable by the settler class, all under the guise of “order.” A Marxist analysis identifies this as protecting the aesthetics of capital accumulation. A feminist perspective sees how these laws target sex workers. The solution is the decriminalization of these activities and the defunding of the police units that enforce this class-based war on the poor.
