In this episode of Conversations on Anarres, we talk with Dr. Amelia M. Wirts who teaches philosophy at the University of Washington.

In addition to being a philosopher, she is also a J.D., and has experience as a judicial clerk. We talk about her research into the idea of police as a kind of systemic oppression in the United States. Wirts examines different perspectives that try to explain police brutality as the result of a few bad individuals within police forces, or as a problem that can be reformed with a few policy changes. Instead, she suggests that the mission of police forces in the United States is the problem and that we need to consider seriously the voice of activists calling for defunding and abolition. You can read Dr. Wirts' argument from the APA Blog here.