Abolitionist Voices

by Ruth Kinna (Contribution by), Jon Burnett (Contribution by), Harry Blagg (Contribution by), Joy James (Contribution by), Micheal Dellwing (Contribution by)

Overview

Why have so many radical thinkers advocated for the abolition of prisons and punishment? And why have their ideas been so difficult to popularize or garner the political will for change? This book outlines several different approaches to penal abolitionism and showcases their calls for the ending of legal coercion, domination, and repression.

This exciting and innovative edited collection shows how abolitionist ideas have continued topicality and relevance in the present day and how they can collectively help with devising new ways of thinking about social problems, as well as suggesting alternatives to existing penal policies, practices and institutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781529224030
Publisher:	Bristol University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2025
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

David Gordon Scott works at The Open Universityand is Co-Founding Editor of the journal Justice, Power and Resistance.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Johannes Feest

Preface

1. The Abolitionist Rhizome - David Gordon Scott

Part 1: Voices of the Oppressed

2. Kropotkin and the Anarchist Case for Penal Abolition - Ruth Kinna

3. Angela Davis and the Contributions and Contradictions of Abolition - Joy James

4. Phenomenology, Abolition and the Lived Experience of Incarceration - Lisa Guenther

Part 2: Abolitionist Ideas

5. Liberation and Reconciliation: The Christian Tradition and Prison Abolition - Hannah Bowman

6. The Daybreak of Abolition: The Overcoming of Punishment and Promotion of Therapy in Nietzsche’s Philosophy - Caius Brandão

7. Marxism and the Political Economy of Abolitionism - Jon Burnett

8. Foucault and Prison Abolition - Chloë Taylor

Part 3: The Scope of Oppression

9. The Slavery Industrial Complex - Viviane Saleh-Hanna

10. Abolition and the Colonial Carceral Archipelago - Thalia Anthony and Harry Blagg

11. Southerning Nonpunitive and Abolitionist Feminism - Valeria Vegh Weis

Part 4: Struggles for Liberation and Justice

12. Eco-Abolition: Policing Environmental Injustice - Nathan Stephens-Griffin and Andrea Brock

13. Abolitionist Activism in Post-Mass-Media Societies: Moral Panic and the Amplification of Abolitionist Voices - Michael Dellwing

14. Libertarian Socialism and the Struggle for Liberative Justice - David Gordon Scott

Editorial Reviews

‘At a moment in which the powers of state punishment are expanding through both familiar and newfound techniques, Envisioning Abolition and Abolitionist Voices make timely and thought-provoking interventions.’ Radical Philosophy

'Abolitionist Voices provides an excellent collection of thought-provoking and politically engaged arguments for abolitionism. Its breadth is impressive: from underpinnings of colonialism, slavery and political economy to the ideas of Kropotkin, Foucault and others.' Christopher Cunneen, University of Technology Sydney

From the Publisher