Embedded Files
Want to End Police Violence?
Much has been written not only on how to implement a system of justice designed for reparation instead of retribution, there’s mounting experiential evidence of the advantages of these approaches.
BOOKS
Are Prisons Obsolete? (Angela Davis) (free!)
Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black (bell hooks)
Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paulo Freire) (free!)
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Michelle Alexander)
Abolition for the People: The Movement for a Future Without Policing & Prisons (Various Authors; edited by Colin Kaepernick
Prison by Any Other Name (Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law)
The End of Policing (Alex Vitale)
White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logistics of Genocide (Dylan Rodriguez)
Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing (Ruth Wilson Gilmore)
Change Everything: Racial Capitalism and the Case for Abolition (Ruth Wilson Gilmore)
Abolition Geography: Essays Towards Liberation (Ruth Wilson Gilmore)
No More Police: A Case for Abolition Book (Andrea Ritchie and Mariame Kaba) (see below for companion study guide)
We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice (Mariame Kaba)
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care (Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba)
Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement (Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Editors)
Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color (Andrea Ritchie)
Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom (Derecka Purnell)
How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons from the Movement Against Imprisonment (Rachel Herzing and Justin Piché)
Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement (Kimberlé Crenshaw)
The First Civil Right: How Liberals Built Prison America (Naomi Murakawa)
Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families — and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World (Dorothy Roberts)
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (Alisa Bierria)
No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity (Sarah Haley)
Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation (Beth Ritchie)
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (Robin DiAngelo)
The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming A Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting for Those Left Behind (Safiya Bukhari)
Abolition Feminisms, Vol. 1: Organizing, Survival, and Transformative Practice (Alisa Bierria, Jakeya Caruthers and Brooke Lober)
Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America (Kristian Williams)
Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology! (INCITE!)
How to Not Call the Po'Lice Ever (POOR Press)
Abolishing the Police (Koshka Duff and Cat Sims)
Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership (Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor)
Abolishing State Violence A World Beyond Bombs, Borders, and Cages (Ray Acheson)
Badges without Borders How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing (Stuart Schrader)
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America (Khalil Gibran Muhammad)
An Abolitionist's Handbook: 12 Steps to Changing Yourself and the World (Patrisse Cullors)
The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification (Anne Gray Fischer)
Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism, and the Movement for Black Lives (Donna Murch)
The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison (Hugh Ryan)
Insurgent Love: Abolition and Domestic Homicide (Ardath Whynacht)
Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable (Joanna Schwartz)
Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present (Robyn Maynard)
Rehearsals for Living (Robyn Maynard and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson)
Black Disability Politics (Sami Schalk)
Defend/Defund (Interference Archive)
N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law (Joey David Armour)
Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America (Joey David Armour)
From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America (Elizabeth Hinton)
Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter (Jordan T. Camp and Christina Heatherton)
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (James Forman Jr.)
Violence Work: State Power and the Limits of Police (Micol Seigel)
Chokehold: Policing Black Men (Paul Butler)
Cars and Jails: Freedom Dreams, Debt and Carcerality (Julie Livingston & Andrew Ross)
The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea (Christopher J. Lebron)
Coal, Cages, Crisis: The Rise of the Prison Economy in Central Appalachia (Judah Schept)
WEBSITES
Don't Call The Police (Police Alternatives)
The Abolitionist Map (Abolitionist Groups)
The Breathe Act (Movement for Black Lives)
The Prison Industry Corporate Database (Worth Rises)
Abolitionist Perspectives in Social Work
Beyond Criminal Courts (Community Justice Exchange)
We Need to Talk (The Justice Collaborative)
Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective
Law Enforcement Lookup (The Legal Aid Society) (NYC only)
TOOLKITS, CURRICULA, GUIDES & ZINES
Creative Interventions Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Stop Interpersonal Violence (Creative Interventions / INCITE!) (100 pages)
Your #AbolitionForThePeople Resource Guide
Know Your Rights! Using Public Records Laws in Abolitionist Organizing (Stop LAPD Spying Coalition)
KNOW YOUR FIGHTS! USING PUBLIC RECORDS LAWS IN ABOLITIONIST ORGANIZING
So is this Actually an Abolitionist Proposal or Strategy? (Interrupting Criminalization)
Concrete Steps Toward Divestment from Policing & Investment in Community Safety (Interrupting Criminalization / The Movement for Black Lives)
The Demand is Still #DefundPolice (Interrupting Criminalization)
What's Next? Safer and More Just Communities Without Policing (Interrupting Criminalization)
In It Together: A Framework for Conflict Transformation in Movement-Building Groups (Interrupting Criminalization)
What About the Rapists? (An Abolitionist FAQ) (Interrupting Criminalization)
Don't Be a Copagandist: A Resource for Media on Covering “Crime” and Violence (Interrupting Criminalization)
Abolition and the State: A Discussion Tool (Interrupting Criminalization)
A (Companion) Reading and Discussion Guide for No More Police: A Case for Abolition by Mariame Kaba and Andrea J. Ritchie (Interrupting Criminalization)
Against Punishment (Interrupting Criminalization & Project NIA)
Building Your Abolitionist Toolbox: Everyday Resources for a Punishment-Free World (Project NIA)
A Restorative Conversation Toolkit (Project NIA)
Police Abolition 101 (Project NIA)
Fumbling Towards Repair: A Workbook for Community Accountability Facilitators (Mariame Kaba & Shira Hassan)
Building a Police-Free Future: Frequently Asked Questions (MPD 150)
Racial Justice is a Journey (Racial Justice Principles) (University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work)
Reimagining Justice: The Challenges of Violence & Punitive Excess (Bruce Western, Daedalus, American Academy of Arts & Sciences)
Police and Prison Abolition 101: A Syllabus and FAQ (Rachel Kincaid)
If You’re New to Abolition: Study Group Guide (Abolition Journal)
Reformist Reforms vs. Abolitionist Steps in Policing (Critical Resistance)
Policing in the USA, 1492-Present: A Timeline (Critical Resistance Oakland / Working Families)
#DefundPolice (BCRW Social Justice Institute)
What’s Next? Safer and More Just Communities Without Policing (BCRW Social Justice Institute)
Stop Law Enforcement Violence Toolkit (INCITE!)
A Revenue Generation Playbook: How to Fully Fund Our Communities (Action Center on Race & the Economy / The Community Resource Hub for Safety & Accountability)
How to Start Your Own Courtwatch (Survived & Punished)
We Came to Learn: A Call to Action for Police-Free Schools (Advancement Project)
Freedom to Thrive (Popular Democracy)
Agenda to Build Black Futures (Black Youth Project 100)
Police and Prison Abolition Resource Guide/Syllabus (Thinking Abolition)
Navigating DOJ Consent Decrees in the Context of Campaigns to Defund Police (Community Resource Hub for Safety & Accountability)
Help is NOT on the Way: How Family Policing Perpetuates State Directed Terror (upEND Movement)
Get in Formation: A Community Safety Toolkit (vision change win)
No Abolition Without Autonomy (Hasta Muerte Coffee, Huichin Village and Lisjan Ohlone territory)
The Prison Industry (Worth Rises)
Reimagining Judging (The Square One Project)
States Can Help Reduce the Burdens of Harmful Fines and Fees. Here’s How. (Tax Policy Center / Urban Institute)
Eligible, but excluded: A guide to removing the barriers to jail voting (Prison Policy)
Safety Planning and Intimate Partner Violence: A Toolkit for Survivors and Supporters (Community Justice Exchange)
Supporting Sex Workers & Survivors: Lessons for Defense Campaigns (Survived & Punished)
1850 Slave Patrol vs 2015 Law Enforcement (Interracial Jawn)
In the Belly, Vol. 1 (In the Belly)
In the Belly, Vol. 2 (In the Belly)
In the Belly, Vol. 3 (In the Belly)
In the Belly, Vol. 4 (In the Belly)
The TEN DEMANDS Abolitionist Guide for Community Organizers and City Councils (TEN DEMANDS)
STUDIES AND REPORTS
The Social Costs of Policing (Vera Institute)
Police Killings and Municipal Reliance on Fine-and-Fee Revenue (Brenden Beck)
Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review (Proof Incarceration Doesn't Work) (Damon M. Petrich, Travis C. Pratt, Cheryl Lero Jonson, and Francis T. Cullen)
Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Systematic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States ("Crimes Against Humanity")
Justice System Disparities: Black-White National Imprisonment Trends, 2000 to 2020 (Council on Criminal Justice)
Proximity and Police Departments: Spatial Dynamics of the Misdemeanor Arrest Decline (Brenden Beck and Eaven Holder for Socius)
Poll Reveals: Nearly 8 in 10 Believe Mental Health Professionals — and Not Police — Should Respond to Mental Health Calls (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
Incarcerated LGBTQ+ Adults and Youth (Sentencing Project)
The Effects of Misdemeanor Bail Reform (Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at UPenn)
Three Strikes in California (California Policy Lab)
Obscuring the Truth: How Misinformation is Skewing the Conversation about Pretrial Justice Reforms in Illinois (The Coalition to End Money Bond)
What Does It Feel Like When Change Finally Comes: Male Supremacy, Accountability and Transformative Justice (The Challenging Male Supremacy Project)
Prison Abolition as a Decolonial and Human Rights Imperative in Africa (Sohela Surajpal)
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
What About the Rapists and Murderers? (Angel Parker)
So You’re Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist (A Roadmap) (Mariame Kaba)
Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police (Mariame Kaba)
Police ‘Reforms’ You Should Always Oppose (Mariame Kaba)
The Demand for Abolition (Colin Kaepernick)
Why Arguments Against Abolition Inevitably Fail (Angela Davis)
Why “Crime” Isn’t the Question and Police Aren’t the Answer (Alec Karakatsanis)
The Punishment Bureaucracy: How to Think About “Criminal Justice Reform” (Alec Karakatsanis, Yale Law Journal)
Abolition And Reparations: Histories of Resistance, Transformative Justice, And Accountability (Patrisse Cullors, Harvard Law Review)
Big Dreams and Bold Steps Toward a Police-Free Future (Rachel Herzing)
Instead of Rehabilitation, Prisons Fuel a Vicious Cycle of Instability (Phillip A. Jones)
Cops Don't Stop Mass Shooters, Community Investments Do (AWKWORD)
We Have Already Stopped Calling The Cops (Aviva Stahl)
What happens in prison becomes the norm (William C. Anderson)
Visions for a Liberated Anti-Carceral Crisis Response (from a Mad Crip care worker and psychiatric survivor) (Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu)
We Don’t Need Cops to Become Social Workers: We Need Peer Support + Community Response Networks (Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu)
What Is and What Could Be: The Policies of Abolition (Dan Berger and David Stein)
From One Struggle to Another: Lessons From the First Abolition Movement (Mumia Abu-Jamal)
How to Build a Global Abolition Movement (Brendan O'Connor)
Police Reform Works — For the Police (Naomi Murakawa)
Reformism Isn’t Liberation, It’s Counterinsurgency (Dylan Rodriguez)
The System Is Built for Power, Not Justice (Derecka Purnell)
Black Cops Don’t Make Policing Any Less Anti-Black (Bree Newsome Bass)
The Shiny, High-Tech Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Ruha Benjamin)
We Must Center Black Women (Kimberlé Crenshaw)
How Abolition Makes Schools Safer (Kihana Miraya Ross)
Pop Culture Helped Turn Police Officers Into Rock Stars — And Black Folks Into Criminals (Mark Anthony Neal)
The Feds Are Watching: A History of Resisting Anti-Black Surveillance (Simone Browne)
Prisons Are a Public Health Crisis — and the Cure Is Right in Front of Us (Kenyon Farrow)
Disability Justice Is an Essential Part of Abolishing Police and Prisons (Talila "TL" Lewis)
Broken Chains & Colonial Cages (Morning Star Gali)
The Queer and Trans Fight for Liberation — and Abolition (Dean Spade)
Why We're Fighting for a World Without ICE (Cristina Jiménez Moreta and Cynthia Garcia)
Policing Has Failed: For Real Public Safety, We Need A Million Community-Driven Experiments (Mary Hooks, Movement for Black Lives)
How I Became an Abolitionist (Derecka Purnell)
Reckoning with Violence (Michelle Alexander)
Abolish Family Policing, Too (Dorothy Roberts)
What's in a Movement? Understanding Resistance, Justice & Allies (Olayemi Olurin)
Looking back at the Black Panther Party's community-based 'survival programs' (Elías Villoro)
The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
What Will it Take to Stop the Police from Killing (CrimethInc.)
Broken Windows Policing (Bench Ansfield)
How to End the US Prison State Quick and Easy (Lee Camp)
What We Mean When We Say Abolish Prisons (K Agbebiyi)
Five Facts About Police Deception and Youth You Should Know (Innocence)
A Massive Fail on Crime Reporting by The New York Times, NPR (Scott Hechinger)
The George Floyd Killing in Minneapolis Exposes the Failures of Police Reform (Alice Speri)
Stemming Violence by Investing in Civic Goods (Jennifer Doleac and Anna Harvey)
Policing and Militarism Go Hand in Hand. We Must Abolish Both. (Destiny Harris)
There is No "Migrant Crisis" (Harsha Walia)
There's a Reliable Therapy for Sex Offenders — But Nobody Wants Them to Get It (Maggie Koerth-Baker)
Media Indifference to Report on Deadly Chicago Water Contamination an Object Lesson in How Crime is Socially Constructed (Adam Johnson)
Arrests for Low-Level Crimes Climb Under NYC Mayor Eric Adams (Fola Akinnibi)
The Rise of Defund the Police: The New Civil Rights Movement 2.0 (Nick, TEN DEMANDS)
The Case of Ramsey Orta (AWKWORD)
The Case of Temujin Kensu (AWKWORD)
Prisons Serving as Litmus Test for How Governments Worldwide are Responding to COVID-19 (AWKWORD)
INTERVIEWS
A World Without Police: Dean Spade Interviews Derecka Purnell (them.)
Towards the Horizon of Abolition: A Conversation with Mariame Kaba (The Next System)
Black Liberation and the Abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex: An Interview with Rachel Herzing (The Black Scholar)
How Would Prison Abolition Actually Work? (An Interview with Woods Ervin of Critical Resistance) (GQ)
VIDEOS
So after we abolish prisons and policing... then what? (Derecka Purnell and Charlene Carruthers)
On the Road With Abolition: Assessing Our Steps Along the Way (Haymarket Books, featuring Dean Spade, Woods Ervin, Kamau Walton, K Agbebiyi & Mariame Kaba)
Building Accountable Communities (BCRW Social Justice Institute)
Moving at the Speed of Trust: Disability Justice and Transformative Justice (BCRW Social Justice Institute)
Transforming Harm: Experiments in Accountability (BCRW Social Justice Institute)
What Does it Mean to Defund the Police (CBS News)
The Path from Incarceration to Transformative Justice in the United States (Olayemi Olurin on The Young Turks)
Organizing Toward Abolition, featuring Critical Resistance, Poder in Action & TEN DEMANDS (A Radical Guide)
An Interview with Christopher Blackwell, Incarcerated Writer & Organizer (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Dylan Rodriguez, Author, Professor & Critical Resistance Founding Member (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Kamau Franklin, Founder, Community Movement Builders (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Samuel Sinyangwe, Mapping Police Violence Creator & Campaign Zero Co-Founder (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Olayemi Olurin, Movement Lawyer (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Tiffany Flowers, Organizer, #DayWithoutUs & The Frontline (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Carlton Williams, Movement Lawyer & Cornell Professor (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Nicole Porter, Sentencing Project Director of Advocacy (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Victoria Law, Author, Prison By Any Other Name (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Alec Karakatsanis, Founder and Executive Director, Civil Rights Corps (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Scott Hechinger, Civil Rights Lawyer (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Alex Vitale, Author, The End of Policing (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Cerise Castle, Justice Journalist (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Emily Galvin-Almanza, Co-Founder, Partners for Justice (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Alex Mingus, Community Organizer (AWKWORD)
An Interview with Michael McKay, formerly of NARSOL, on the Sex Offender Registry (AWKWORD)
TEN DEMANDS Keynote Address at Extinction Rebellion XR World 2021
Nick Breaks Down the Ten Demands for Justice
The TEN DEMANDS Team Breaks Down Demand 2: Demilitarize the Police
PODCASTS AND OTHER AUDIO
Abolishing Prisons with Mariame Kaba (Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes)
Join the Abolitionist Movement with Mariame Kaba (Rebel Steps)
Behind the Police: Slavery, Mass Murder and the Birth of American Policing (Behind The Bastards)
Beyond Prisons: A Podcast on Prison Abolition (Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein)
The Punishment Bureaucracy with Alec Karakatsanis (Historic.ly)
Prison & Police Abolition: Finding True Safety (Be Antiracist with Ibram X. Kendi)
Abolish the Police with Cat Brooks & Alex Vitale (Upstream Podcast)
Movement Memos with Kelly Hayes (Truthout)
Community Responds to Domestic Violence (Creative Interventions)
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