Beginnings
Feminisms Against the Carceral State
Seventies-era anti-carceral feminism opposed “tough on crime” policymaking and played an important role in the making of today’s prison abolition movement.
books
10 posts in ‘books’
books
Freeing the Mind
An incarcerated researcher explores how childhood trauma often shapes the lives of those in prison.
Crimmigration
No Papers, No Fear
A new generation of anti-deportation activists leaves no one behind, fighting to end the harms of the entire punishment industry.
excerpt
No Refuge
Many women escaping violence in their home countries find themselves trapped in the formal violence of the asylum system.
books
Raising Abolitionists
A new anthology invites parents into the work of building a world without prisons.
public health
The Essentialism of Addiction
We must challenge the dominant carceral narrative that one is born an addict and a criminal—rather than constructed as one by those in power.
Politics
Mass Incarceration on the Cheap
Fiscal arguments have only led to a reconfigured carceral state—one that replaces one type of punishment for another while still harming millions.
books
Show Me Your License
For many immigrant families, even driving to school or the doctor risks a dangerous encounter with the punitive state.
punishment theory
Unraveling Carceral Feminism
The push to increase the state’s power to punish led to more incarceration but failed to create a more just society for victims of sexual violence.
activism
Black Power Meets Police Power
The experiences of Michael and Zoharah Simmons show that the fight against the carceral state is embedded in a larger project of building a just world.