ABSTRACT
Prison abolitionism is theory, movement and practice that argues that prisons are fundamentally destructive institutions that undermine safety, fail to deter harmful behaviour and reproduce oppression, exploitation and violence. This chapter examines some key abolitionist perspectives, demonstrating abolition’s contribution to feminist criminologies, as well as drawing out key tensions between abolition and some feminist tendencies. The first section outlines what prison abolition is and key pragmatic reasons for abolition. The second section demonstrates the overlapping political goals of prison abolitionism and intersectional feminism, in particular examining the role prisons play in reproducing inequality and violence. The tensions between abolitionism and “carceral” forms of feminism are examined in the third section, with a focus on responses to violence against women and sexual violence in particular.
