Consequentialism refers to a set of theories that optimize some metric in the long run, and everything is judged against that end. You still have to specify th

Consequentialism refers to a set of theories that optimize some metric in the long run, and everything is judged against that end. You still have to specify the metric. Contrast that with bottom up theories, where good actions are composed of things that are categorically good. If the measure is defined as low crime, or progress towards some ideological goal, then I think the argument has some weight. But descriptively, people are individual consequentialists. They care about the consequences to their part of the world. How am I doing, how is my family doing, how are my friends doing? If the article's policy for justice makes any of those things worse, then an individual consequentialist isn't in favor of it.