The Cloward-Piven Strategy and Its Implications for Criminal Justice

Originally published by American Thinker

The Cloward-Piven strategy was conceived in 1966 by communist sociologists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. Both Cloward and Piven were employed by Columbia University (Obama’s alma mater) as professors at that time. The original Cloward-Piven strategy aimed to overload the welfare system, leading to its collapse. The proponents of this strategy believed that a systematic change could be implemented after the collapse. This change they were advocating for was the introduction of universal basic income. Today, we can see this strategy being played out on a national, regional, and local level through mass illegal immigration, fraud, and other means. The core principle of the Cloward-Piven strategy is to create a societal crisis and use it as leverage for communist reforms. Although the theory focused on welfare, it is increasingly evident that these principles have been applied in other systems, including criminal justice. Cloward is now dead, but Piven is still alive, continuing to spew communist propaganda.

     We can see how the systemic overload theories and their effects have extended beyond social services, such as crime-ridden communities, overcrowded prisons, overwhelmed courts, and understaffed and underfunded police departments. Policies like mandatory minimums and the “War on Drugs" led to prison overpopulation, overwhelming the correctional systems and challenging state and local budgets and infrastructure. Fast forward to today, where DEI practices, illegal immigration (open borders), defunding the police, bail reform, police reform, decarceration in favor of mental health diversion programs, and abolitionist rhetoric caused staffing issues overwhelming police officers and tying their hands, forcing them to operate in unnecessary high-risk environments such as civil unrest and riots while simultaneously pushing law enforcement agencies to rely on reactive rather than proactive measures, allowing crime to fester. A Data Collaborative for Justice study found that within two years, 66% of repeat offenders who were released under bail reform in New York State were rearrested. 49.3% of those rearrested were arrested on felonies and 26.2% were rearrested for committing violent felonies.

Regarding staffing shortages, NYPD has repeatedly fallen short of its staffing targets and has been losing seasoned, experienced officers at an alarming rate of approximately 200 a month. A headcount conducted in May of 2024 revealed the department was at its lowest staffing levels in over 30 years.

To add to the problem, a recent Bureau of Justice Statistics report shows that violent crime has risen by 4.9% nationwide from 2021 to 2022. It is also important to note that the BOJ originally released false information and recently quietly edited the percentage to reflect the increase accurately. These policies have also intentionally created a massive increase in case volumes, overwhelming district attorneys' offices, public defender offices, and courts, sometimes resulting in delayed justice or no justice at all.

Everything mentioned above was meant to overwhelm the criminal justice system by creating a never-ending stream of repeat offenders cycling through police departments, courts, probation offices, and parole while also destroying communities and the trust people have in the system. What is the response of the left to these crises? More destructive reforms. As then Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste." A never-ending creation of crises and then reform. Wash, rinse, and repeat until the end goal is achieved: a total system collapse. This is Cloward-Piven in practice.

     The crises I stated above are deliberate acts orchestrated by the left, not mere coincidences. These so-called reforms are designed to destabilize communities, create unsafe and unnecessary public safety risks, and force a system collapse. While the Cloward-Piven strategy was initially focused on welfare, its core communist elements are present in today's criminal justice landscape. Policymakers and law enforcement leaders must be mindful of the strategy's risks and have a better understanding of what's at play. These deliberate destructive reforms must be repealed before it becomes too late to recover from the immense damage this strategy is meant to inflict. Policymakers must understand that the Cloward-Piven strategy is rooted in communism and designed to collapse the system, ultimately forcing governments to implement martial law, which is dangerously unclear regarding the scope and limit of its use after declaration.

     The left and its band of intolerable communist idiots are a direct threat to the stability of America and our Constitution. The risk is too significant to keep burying our heads in the sand.