31.-abolition-thumbnail-definitions.pdf
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IND
i AR OlITION,

PIC ABOLITION IS A POLITICAL VISION
WITH THE GOAL OF ELIMINATING PRISONS,
POLICING, AND SURVEILLANCE AND
CREATING LASTING ALTERNATIVES TO
PUNISHMENT AND IMPRISONMENT.
From where we are now, sometimes we can't really imagine
what abolition is going to look like. Abolition isn't just about
getting rid of buildings full of cages. It’s also about undoing
the society we five in because the PIC both feeds on and main-
tains oppression and inequalities through punishment, vio-
lence, and controls millions of people. Because the prison
industrial complex is not an isolated system, abolition is a
road strategy. An abolitionist vision means that we must
‘build models today that can represent how we want to live in
the future, It means developing practical strategies for taking
‘small steps that move us toward making our dreams real and
‘that lead us all to believe that things really could be different.
It means living this vision in our daily lives.



Abolition is both a practical organizing tool and a long-term goal.

THROUGHOUT THE KIT, YOU WILL
SEE REFERENCES TO THE STATE:
STATE VIOLENCE, STATE REPRESSION,
[AND STATE CONTROL. “THE STATE”
IS AT ITS SIMPLEST THE GOVERNMENT.
IT (S THE SET OF PEOPLE AND
INTERESTS THAT DETERMINE THE
LAWS, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES
(NCLUDING ECONOMICS) OF A
GEOGRAPHICAL AREA.

MaNY OF THE PEOPLE MOST
INVOLVED PERFORMING THE
STATE'S POWER ARE THOSE WHO
BENEFIT FROM IT MOST DIRECTLY.




For example, racism is a tool the state uses to maintain white >
supremacy and keep resources and power from people of color, The
PIC sa tool the state uses to control people, maintain its own power,
and legitimize itself by claiming that only it can-create “safety” for
People living under it, This is important since the state controls people
not only directly through police, prisons, and surveillance, but more
indirectly, by influencing how people and communities imagine them-
selves, what they can do, and what harm they have to put up with,
For example, sometimes people in places that are more heavily sur
veilled by police and cameras (whether that is where they live or
where they spend otier time), limit where they go and when, change
their behavior, or start to punish or talk down to others in their com
‘munity who do not. In other words, the power ofthe state is not only
an outside force, but gets internalized in the minds of people subject
to it, too.

ARM,





IN THIS TOOLKIT, WE DEFINE
HARM BOTH AS’ SOMETHING
ONE PERSON DOES TO HURT
ANOTHER - FROM YELLING AT
YOUR PARTNER TO KILLING
ANOTHER PERSON - AND as.
THE EFFECT OF OPPRESSION
OR VIOLENCE CARRIED OUT
BY THE STATE (SEE STATE).

IMPORTANTLY, THESE KINDS

OF HARM ARE LINKED. ‘This means that when one. person hurté
someone else, that harm can often be
linked to the harm the state and economic
institutions do in communities of color,
poor communities, and other oppressed
‘communities. We define harm this broadly
to recognize that current ideas of crime
are limited to ways that specifically target
the communities that are also the targets
of harm from the state. We also do it to
challenge the idea that the best ways to
address harm in our communities is
through punishment and imprisonment,
For more ideas about harm see the section,
Confronting "Crime," Confronting Harm.


ABBISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (PIC)

4

PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX (PIC) IS 4 TERM

WE USE TO DESCRIBE THE OVERLAPPING INTERESTS

OF GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY THAT USE

SURVEILLANCE, POLICING, AND IMPRISONMENT

AS SOLUTIONS TO ECONOMIC, SOCIAL, AND

POLITICAL PROBLEMS.
‘Through its reach and impact, the PIC helps and maintains
the authority of people who get their power through racial,
economic and similar privileges. There are many ways this
power is collectéd and maintained through the PIC, including
‘reating mass media images that keep alive stereotypes of
people of color, poor people, queer people, immigrants,
Youth, ete as criminal, delinquent or deviant. This power is
also maintained by earning huge profits for private compa-
nies that deal with prisons and police forces; helping earn
political gains for “tough on crime’ politicians; increasing the
influence of prison guard and police unions; and eliminating
social and political dissent by people of color, poor people,
immigrants, and others who make demands of self- determination
and reorganization of power in the US.

All these things are parts of the PIC.

re ACE RACISM

RACE IS NOT A NATURAL CATEGORY.
ITIS A CATEGORY HUMANS HAVE MADE
UP THAT CLASSIFIES PEOPLE BASED
ON PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
EVEN THOUGH IT IS MADE UR IT HAS
VERY REAL CONSEQUENCES IN THE U.S.

Itis also a deciding part of who is targeted for control by the
PIC over and over again. This isa result of racism - the use
of race as a basis for societal inequalities. The creation of race
and the formal uses of racism are at the heart of how the PIC
works.








‘The prison industrial complex controls people by limiting Ss
their life choices. Tt does this by saying who can have access
‘to what and under what circumstances (see Crlminaliztion).
In controlling and limiting people's life choices, the people
involved in upholding the PIC are able to maintain the current
balance of power (see White Sopremacy, The State, and Self
Determination). And even though many people of color partic-
ipate in the state and in corporations that work with the
state, the state's power is still tilted in favor of white people.
Prisons, policing, surveillance, and other manifestations of,
the PIC are made possible by exploiting racial inequalities
‘and working them further into the fabric of society.

aoe VETS SUPREMACY,

THE TERM WHITE SUPREMACY
DESCRIBES A SYSTEM OF POWER
THAT HAS ITS HISTORICAL ROOTS,
IN THE EUROPEAN EFFORT FOR
SOCIAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC,
AND GEOGRAPHICAL DOMINANCE.
THIS SYSTEM OF POWER IS ALSO
KEY TO HOW THE U.S. HAS BEEN
ORGANIZED TO SYSTEMATICALLY
BENEFIT WHITE PEOPLE AND ACT
OUT VIOLENCE ON PEOPLE OF
COLOR.



‘This violence is not limited to personal hatred, but includes
arrangements of society that limit the choices, opportunities, and safety
‘of people of color. White supremacy concentrates resources, power and
wealth in white communities and denies those things to communities of
color on purpose. Of course, these benefits are not the same for all white
people. Rich white people acquire more economic resources and power
than poor white people.

Simple statistics about who goes to prison, who stays there longer, whose
communities get policed most heavily, and so on show that the PIC tar-
sets people of color (see the factsheets for more inf). The common sense (see
the Common Sense section of this kt) encouraged through the PIC also feeds
white supremacy. For example, police safety materials and the nightiy
news encourage racist fears about who does crime by showing the same
images over and over regardless of who actually commits harms. The use
of these images makes it easier to impose policing, surveillance, and
prison on communities of colot. This burden, in turn, keeps white
supremacy alive by removing or keeping down chaltenges to it,
Historically these challenges have included struggles by people of color
for self-determination. Without these challenges it is harder to Keep
resources and control from getting concentrated in white communities


Struggles against white supremacy and the PIC cannot be separated. By
‘putting anti-white supremacy at the core of how we organize for abolition,
‘we can challenge white supremacy in all its forms and locations, even
‘ones that don’t seem immediately related to prisons or jails or police.



CAPITALISM

CAPITALISM IS AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM

IN WHICH A SMALL NUMBER OF PEOPLE

MAINTAIN OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL

OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION (THE

MACHINES, FACTORIES, AND LAND

NEEDED TO MAKE GOODS) AND THE

WAYS OF DISTRIBUTING AND MAKING

MONEY OFF THOSE GOODS.
in a capitalist system, like in the US, the most people do not own the
wealth, but are spread out into different classes depending on their rela-
tionship to production. Production ean be anything from making the
actual stuff, to working in service industries like hotels and restaurants,
to holding stocks and other finaneial resources.





Many people who do not own the majority of capital still benefit from
their relationship to it. For example, the middle and upper-middle
classes have more access to the power and resources controlled by the
‘owners than do the working class and poor.

It is important to understand that capitalism needs two things that are
at the heart of the growth of and justification for the PIC. First, it has to
constantly grow and expand. Second, for capitalism to thrive, it depends
on a surplus of labor (here, labor refers to the people who do the work
to produce goods and services). In other words, some people (or some
lass of people) have to be out of work. This unemployment creates com-
petition among the working class and working poor for jobs. It also
makes it easier for owners to set lower wages because the unemployed
can be used as a threat to workers trying to get better conditions or pay.

‘The PIC is an important and expanding industry in the US. It fils,
‘spaces left open by factory and agricultural work AND it is a primary
tool used by the capitalist state to control the working class (both
employed and unemployed). The PIC controls these classes through
increased state presence in work and labor sites and by warehousing
poor people and people of color.


CRIMINALIZATION IS THE PROCESS
THROUGH WHICH ACTIONS BECOME
ILLEGAL. ACTIONS BECOME CRIMES,
ONLY AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN CULTURALLY
OR LEGALLY DEFINED AS CRIMES. IDEAS,
ABOUT WHAT IS CRIMINAL REACH FAR
BEYOND SPECIFIC ACTIONS. WHAT
COUNTS AS CRIME CHANGES ACROSS
BOTH TIME AND SPACE, AND SOME-
TIMES HAPPENS REALLY FAST. OFTEN
THOSE CHANGES HAPPEN BECAUSE OF
POLITICAL FORCES THAT ARE MANIPU-

LATING PUBLIC FEARS INSTEAD OF

RESPONDING TO THEM.

Criminalization is also what happens
when entire groups of people are targeted by law enforcement for
punishment and control. The criminalization of poverty, for exam-
Ble, includes controlling poor people through laws that make every-
thing from public urination to sleeping in the park to participation
in informal economies illegal and punishable. The criminalization
of youth of color includes directly folding potice forces into school
security, as well as laws in many cities that forbid young people
from gathering in groups as small as three on the street. The crim-
inalization of immigrants means that “foreign looking” people get
stopped on the street and in airports more often and are vulnerable
to police brutality.





‘The process of criminalization is an important piece of the PIC.
It is one of the tools that make it possible for police and courts
to target specific actions as well as specific groups of people.
It sets us up to believe that everyone who breaks a law is a direct
‘threat to us and to our families. Criminalization also adds to the
myth that social, political, and economic problems are really law
enforcement proiblems—that safety of all kinds, including econom-
ie security, can be guaranteed by watching, controlling and caging
the groups of people who suffer most because of poverty or racism.


a AS COUNTAB aI TY,

THE IDEA THAT IF SOMEONE DOES.
SOMETHING WRONG, THEY SHOULD
BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE IS OFTEN A
DRIVING FORCE BEHIND POPULAR
SUPPORT FOR THE PIC. IN THIS KIT,
WE USE THE TERM DIFFERENTLY.
TRUE ACCOUNTABILITY MEANS MAK-
ING SURE THAT RESPONSIBILITIES
BETWEEN PEOPLE OR GROUPS ARE
MET. IT ALSO MEANS THAT EACH
SIDE'S NEEDS GET MET.

Within the PIC, punishment is commonly thought of as a tool for
creating accountability. Usually the state, through the district
attorney, the police, end the courts, claims to use the PIC to hold
people accountable for their crimes. This means that they wil be
held responsible (tothe state), given a punishment, and serve out
that punishment.

‘We suggest that accountability has many parts. First, there is the
accountability of people to each other, or individuals acting from
a sense of responsibility to other individuals. There is also the
accountability of groups of people to other groups and to individuals,
or the group or society having a responsibility to those groups ot
individuals. In a broader model of accountability, society as a
‘whole should be responsible to see that the basic needs of individuals
and groups are met, and should not stand in the way of those
needs being met.



With this model of accountability, responsibility for harm rests
not only on a person who caused the harm, but also on the groups
of people around them that respond to it, and, the steps taken to
address the harm that meet the needs of everyone involved (not
just the state). This model of accountability also seeks to provide sup-
port both to the harmed and to the person who caused the harm.

wee SENDER & SEXUALITY

GENDER IS USED TO DESCRIBE For this kit, its important to address
THE IDEAS OF MALE AND FEMALE both of these uses of gender. Both the
THAT HAVE BECOME COMMON opposite pairing of male and femal

SENSE FOR US AND THE BIGGER nd the wider idea of gender including

transgendered, transsexual, gender
IDEA OF GENDER BEYOND JUST arti rtersex, and gender queer)

MALE AND FEMALE. play important roles in the way the
PIC targets people
Gender “norms” are ideas about what men and women should be and reflect the
belief that there are only men and women. These norms are connected to white
‘supremacy, heterosexism, and class prejudice because straight, white, upper-class
ideals shape them. Gender is often used to portray people in relationship to the PIC.
For example, people are often targeted by the police because of what others see as
difference from gender norms, For example, transgendered people are often phys-
{cally searched to determine their “sex” when stopped by police. 9

Police also target people based on stereotypes of people that include gender and
face or ease For bxample, poor women and women of color on the street at night
Ere sometimes stopped on suspicion for prostitution, white working class men and
ten of color are targeted as“aterers

SEXUALITY CAN REFER

TO A PERSON'S SEXUAL
‘Sexuality is often closely linked togender. BEHAVIOR. IT CAN ALSO
Sost as there are gender norms tat tall REFER TO HOW A PERSON
people how they should act accordingto IDENTIFIES WHOM THEY
Bender, thereareaiso sewal norms hat ARE ATTRACTED TO, HAVE
Sep wo people should be attracted 12 See wry ons Ae: INTIMATE,

and have physical and emotional
Riis ei RELATIONSHIPS WITH.

Both queer sexuality and sexuality that fais outside the norms are targeted by the
PIC (especialy for women) ‘This happens through intense policing of queer spaces,
surveillance of women alone in public spaces, and the enforcement of laws regulat-
ing sexual norms, Inside prisons and jails, queer people are often vulnerable to
increased harassment, segregated housing, and targeting by prison guards.



‘The PIC is a tool for controlling people. Both gender and sexuality are targets for
control because of the important roles gender and sexual norms have in dictating a
person’s behavior and place in the US. The PIC depends on controlling people's bod -
kes, both in public spaces and in cages, for its power. It uses gender segregation, gen-
det norms, Sexism, and gender oppressions with race and class to act on that power.

ree te SER,

We realize that the word queer might make some people
‘uncomfortable because it is sometimes used as a violent
word meant to hurt and humilate

In the kit, we use the word queer for two main reasons:

ONE, BECAUSE QUEER CAN
TALK’ ABOUT A_ BROADER,
MORE INCLUSIVE SET OF SEXUAL
AND GENDER IDENTITIES THAN
ANY LIST OF SPECIFIC TERMS
(LIKE LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER, ETC.


TWO, BECAUSE WE BELIEVE
THAT THE WORD QUEER GIVES
US THE MOST RADICAL WAY TO
ADDRESS THE OPPRESSION OF
PEOPLE BASED ON GENDER
AND SEXUALITY. lo

We also use queer to challenge a common goal of many mainstream gay
and lesbian movements - seeking acceptance into the current system,
Instead, we use it to support the goal of working to undo the strict
norms of gender and sexuality that are so much a part of the PIC.

(for more, see Gender and Sexuality this section.)

ee RESTORATIVE dW STICE,

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IS A SET OF IDEAS AND A
SET OF PRACTICES. RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
DEFINES CRIME AS HARM THAT {S DONE BOTH AT
THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY LEVEL.

With that in mind, the goal of restorative justice programs and
practices is to repair and prevent harm by addressing the
needs of ail involved in an incident. It focuses on the accused,
the accuser or survivor and the communities in which they
live, work, or learn (see Alternative Practices section for spe-
cific examples).

In the United States, experiments with restorative justice have
been mixed. Since many restorative justice practices have
their roots in native traditions, their use has not always taken
into account cultural features that might not translate well
into mainstream US culture. However, restorative justice
‘ideas and strategies can be very helpful in thinking about
alternative ways of addressing harm and providing frameworks
for programs that are not linked tothe state's punishment system.


eee SEE -METERMINATION

SELF-DETERMINATION IS THE IDEA THAT COMMUNITIES:
SHOULD BE ABLE TO DETERMINE THEIR OWN DEALINGS
WITHOUT BEING CONTROLLED OR RESTRAINED BY
OUTSIDE OR GOVERNMENT FORCES. — Community affairs

‘could include economic practices, éystems for dealing with harrm, hous;
Sng and education values and policies, political structures, ‘geographical
boundaries, and relations with othe: coramunites





‘To exercise self determination means that members of «community are
rete dete thr nd most probably, tat they have 3 way tO
accountable t0 each tt ay self coetermination as «principe was
saat a Pe rgugh ine srugses of oppressed people, primary peo-
Beet Chand wserttnty oreo oes Be,
Eealand.

-Abolitions forts ta ring an end tothe PIC mean supporting oppressed
Aecnlee’ ights to selfedetermination by seeking to “Rbish thege racist
eoples ghs ert aon (pesos pour, sate/government armed
sae ot oy aso mean Brmging gur dees, efforts
forged, the Cla and ED amuses who are direc affected bythe PICS
wedrGmgvessive and ponishing institutions



Many fghers for ae etermination soe ipreoing em lis 2
form: Renocide. ‘They also see the media-assist yinalization
form ia aps resistance as low-intensity warfare by the government
‘path yourh a med at preventing the nse of iberation and movernents
Pie weifeterinination thet can svake the very foundations of the U.S.
fom with Toye the ple as omen ami, tho OO
from wt to paint people of color as Gangerous people who have noth-
Fee an ae RSehy ands therefore, must be renoveds





‘The PIC deliberately and fanatically prevents self-determination.
Carrently, most communities - especially poor communities and commu,
ities of color don't have a say in how their resources are spent or how
Pastsances are spent on them. A concern for self-determination is one way
Dr expressing the political desire to stop the attacks by parts of the PIC -
Sopa sentencing, environmentally destructive industries, economic
exploitation, war-making.



Set-determination ig also a guiding principle for abolition, whi there
Seeraetot be a detailed program for how society will work without pris
might ter detentions the idea! of self determination gives usa guide -
for hbw decisions could be made and for how to begin that work now,

Community Control
ofthe
Poor Community

_
* fe
rencmneen ley,




rn QAI EY

IN THIS KIT YOU WILL FIND REFERENCES TO
COMMUNITY: COMMUNITY-BASED ORGAN-
IZING, COMMUNITY-BASED RESPONSES TO
HARM, COMMUNITY SELF-DETERMINATION,
ETC, IT IS KEY THAT WE THINK ABOUT HOW
TO DEFINE WHAT WE MEAN BY “COMMUNITY,”
BECAUSE SOMETIMES WE FALL BACK ON A
COMMON IDEA THAT A “COMMUNITY” IS.
SOMETHING THAT ALREADY EXISTS, AND
THAT ALL THE PEOPLE IN IT WANT ALL THE
SAME THINGS.



‘That Jdea doesn't work for building practical abolitionist tools
because often we are trying to build alternatives to prisons, polic-
ing, and the rest of the PIC among people who don't always agree
‘on how todo that‘or if we even should do this work to begin with.

Communities, then, are always being made and re-made,
‘A community can be geographical (a town, a neighborhood, an
‘apartment building), based on identity or situation (Black people,
‘queer people, white anti-racists, people on public assistance), oF
something as small as a group of friends. When we suggest that
‘we can find new solutions for confronting harm and creating real
safety, we imagine these solutions beginning in communities—
‘groupings in which people are accountable to each other and act
‘on the principles of abolition in everyday practice.



Often challenges can be best met in groups of people who can
create new ways to respond to harm in their immediate sur-
roundings and among themselves, without involving the state (or
‘with as little involvement as possible). To build toward abolition,
our communities are essential. However, we have to be con-
scious about the different ways we group ourselves and aware of,
the different needs and concerns of all the people in those group-
ings. We also need to be in tune with the different pressures on
and resourees available to our communities. What a community
is will always keep changing asthe people inside it keep re-defining it.

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