By: Mona Cadena, Advocacy and Campaigns Director; Jaylah Cosby, Research and Impact Manager
The words we use matter. When politicians and policymakers describe people as “heinous,” “vile criminals,” “evil,” “barbaric,” or “alien,” they aren’t just speaking in extremes. They’re laying the groundwork for policies that increase punishment, expand incarceration, and ultimately makes all of us less safe.
We’ve seen this before. The “superpredator” myth of the 1990s fueled mass incarceration. The first Trump administration’s “Zero-Tolerance” immigration policy separated thousands of children from their parents and created a wave of for-profit detention centers. Now, the latest executive orders signal a tumbling deeper into harmful and punitive policies under the guise of “public safety.”
But let’s be clear: dehumanizing language only feeds violence, and its presence in official documents like executive orders is Shameful.
Punishment Over Everything: The Consequences of Dehumanization
When any government labels people as monsters rather than human beings, it becomes easier to justify excessive punishment, no matter the cost, in the name of justice. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- Ramping up the Death Penalty: Calling people “evil” primes all of us to accept state executions despite overwhelming evidence that the death penalty disproportionately targets Black and brown people and has led to at least 200 wrongful convictions in the U.S. since 1973.
- Expanding Mass Incarceration: The idea that certain people are inherently dangerous fuels policies like mandatory minimums, three-strikes laws, solitary confinement, and life without parole—trapping thousands in prisons instead of addressing the root causes of harm.
- Militarizing Law Enforcement: Tough-on-crime rhetoric leads to more police, more surveillance, and more violence in communities that have historically been over-policed and over-criminalized.
The Real Impact of Punitive Policies: More Violence, Less Justice
The paradox of punitive policies is that they don’t reduce violence; they create the conditions for it. Here’s how:
- State Violence Fuels Community Violence: When the government normalizes excessive force—through executions, police brutality, or excessive sentences – it sends a message that violence is an acceptable response to harm.
- Over-Policing and Harsh Sentences Destabilize Communities: When entire neighborhoods are targeted by aggressive policing and high incarceration rates, families are torn apart, economic opportunities shrink, and cycles of harm continue.
- Punishment Ignores the Root Causes of Harm: Criminalization focuses on who to punish rather than why violence happens in the first place. Poverty, lack of mental health resources, unaddressed trauma—none of these are solved by locking up more people in cages.
What Now?
We can’t afford to let this moment pass without pushing back against dangerous rhetoric and failed policies. Instead of accepting dehumanizing narratives, we must fight for real safety solutions:
- Invest in Community-Based Violence Prevention: Studies prove that programs that provide mental health care, crisis response, and de-escalation tactics reduce violence without increasing incarceration.
- Advance Restorative and Transformative Justice: Real accountability doesn’t come from extreme sentences—it comes from addressing harm, supporting survivors, and preventing future violence.
- Expose the Harm of Dehumanizing Language: We must call out the narratives that justify excessive punishment and insist on solutions prioritizing dignity, justice, and true public safety.
A Closer Look at the Executive Orders
These dangerous narratives aren’t just rhetoric—they have real policy consequences. Three recent executive orders demonstrate how dehumanizing language fuels harsher punishment and state violence.
- “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety” pushes for expanded federal executions and challenges legal precedents that limit capital punishment.
- The revocation of Executive Order 14006 reopens the door for private prisons to profit from mass incarceration.
- The revocation of Executive Order 14074 eliminates federal police accountability measures, scaling back transparency and use-of-force reporting.
Each shift deepens systemic inequalities, prioritizes punishment over prevention, and ignores evidence-based strategies that actually keep people safe.
For a deeper dive into these executive orders and their impact, read our full policy brief.
The Bottom Line
Dehumanizing language isn’t just rhetoric—it’s a policy weapon. When the government frames people as less than human, it clears the path for harsher punishments, expanded state violence, and deeper racial injustice.
We can’t let that happen. We have the power to push back, change the narrative, and demand real safety for our communities.
Please read our policy brief, share this message, and take action with us.
