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Decarceral Pathways

TESTING AND SHARING DECARCERAL IDEAS

93 posts in ‘Decarceral Pathways’

Policy

Serial Injustices

Millions rallied behind Adnan Syed, whom the system gave a second look. Many others serving extreme sentences deserve a second look, too.

Cecilia Bruni & Destiny Fullwood-Singh

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advocacy

A Passport to the Future

Pell grant restoration for incarcerated students is long overdue. But without infrastructure and safeguards, higher education, and true freedom, will remain elusive.

Abraham Santiago & Norman Gaines

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legal history

Litigious Zeal

One might say incarcerated Muslims sue religiously. And true enough, a deep belief in justice is what moves them to resist oppression this way.

SpearIt

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Decarceral Pathways

Revoking Probation

After years of working in the system, a reformer and believer in government gives up on probation and parole.

Cristian Farias

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In Depth

Anything But Petty

Misdemeanors are major sources of overcriminalization and punishment. Requiring jurors to screen them could shake up the system.

J.D. King & Andrea Roth

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In Depth

To Free Them All

The carceral system criminalizes and retraumatizes survivors at every step. Dismantling these structures is the only way to end this violence.

Leigh Goodmark

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interventions

A Secret Stash of Power

Now more than ever, we need a clear understanding of the role of violence, trauma, and survivorship in our harm reduction practice.

Shira Hassan

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Surveillance

Debt Trapped

The growth of electronic monitoring has spawned a quagmire of hidden fines and fees from which people need a way out.

Tim Curry & Tanisha Pierrette

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campaigns

Meeting the Moment

As a lifelong public defender, I ran to become Santa Clara County’s next district attorney. I didn’t win, but our movement did.

Sajid Khan

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public health

Monkeypox and Decarceration

Urgent action in our nation’s jails and prisons can prevent the kind of mass suffering seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mark Spencer & Vanessa Van Doren

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Policy

Decarcerating from Within

Here's how imprisoned writers can offer reasoned analysis on policies affecting the carceral state.

Tomas Keen & Atif Rafay

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interventions

Nullifying Dobbs

Jurors’ conscientious refusal to convict people charged for violating abortion bans is perfectly legal — and what justice demands.

Peter N. Salib & Guha Krishnamurthi

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public health

Letting Kids Be Kids

Prosecution, incarceration, and surveillance don’t stop child sexual abuse. But prevention can.

Elizabeth Letourneau

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Crimmigration

Court-Assisted Expulsions

Immigrants fighting their deportations need lawyers. That doesn’t mean federally funding their defense should be a movement goal.

Angélica Cházaro

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Decarceral Pathways

Welfare Check

Here’s how federal cash assistance for low-income youth impacts whether they come in contact with the criminal legal system.

Manasi Deshpande & Michael Mueller-Smith

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Beyond Reform

No More Courts

The legal institutions, processes, procedures, and actors implicated in the progression of criminal cases are simply beyond reform.

Zohra Ahmed & Rachel Foran

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voices

Caring Collectively

Looking back on 25 years of abolitionist feminism and organizing in California.

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A closer look

The Evidence-Based Trap

Data-driven approaches to reform can reinforce aspects of a system that’s rotten to the core.

Erin Collins

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advocacy

Virginians on My Mind

Everyone is redeemable. For that reason, I won’t stop fighting for those people our governor and the legislature have left to die in our prisons.

Juanita Belton

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democracy & power

Changing Everything

Beyond electing progressive prosecutors, decarceration requires an ambitious, multifaceted struggle at all levels of governance.

Dan Berger

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public health

Policing Health

The surprising link between Medicaid expansion and arrests levels suggests that keeping people healthy also keeps them from the reach of the criminal legal system.

Jessica T. Simes & Jaquelyn L. Jahn

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system actors

Busting the Myth

Many progressive prosecutors promised bold change. In Virginia and elsewhere, reformers are realizing that they’re still actors in the same machinery of injustice.

Brad Haywood

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Surveillance

Deconfiguring the Security State

The roots of e-carceration run deep, and we need to articulate digital abolition as the solution.

James Kilgore & Malkia Devich Cyril

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prison closures

A Punishment Profiteer

A rare instance of state prisoners, state prison administrators, and the governor of California all publicly agreeing that a particular prison ought to be closed.

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In Depth

Always a Mother

Maternal incarceration is but a phase for the people who experience it. It doesn’t define them.

Geniece Crawford Mondé

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In Depth

A Future for Susanville

The prison town of Susanville, in California, is about to lose its livelihood. Its economic survival presents a test for abolition.

Piper French

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public health

Unwell in a Cell

Co-opting the language of mental health and treatment, jail expansion is taking root in several cities and localities. But these are cages all the same.

Mon Mohapatra

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public health

A World Without Roe

The loss of the fundamental right to reproductive freedom will only lead to more state surveillance and criminalization of pregnant people.

Purvaja Kavattur

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campaigns

150 Years Is Enough

The case for abolishing New Jersey’s youth prisons.

Andrea McChristian

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Essay

Beyond Private Prisons

Simply targeting the corporations caging migrants and other people for profit won’t create a future without mass incarceration.

Silky Shah

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