Resources

This page helps you to navigate the resources we have collated for abolitionist learning and organising.

If you are new to abolition we suggest starting with our reading list or browsing the ‘Introduction to abolition’ resources below.

To search through the resources, you can go to our blog page and use the search function.

Introduction to Abolition

These resources are here to help those new to abolition get to grips with the key ideas. Use the arrows on the right to find more.

Abolition in the UK

Prison abolition is often seen as a US concept, however there is an established UK abolitionist movement. Here are some resources to help think about UK abolitionism.

Abolishing Prisons

Abolitionists reject the common-place assumption that prisons are a necessary part of a just society. Here are some resources for understanding abolitionist arguments against mass incarceration.

Abolishing the Police

Here are some resources with abolitionist arguments against the police, guides for what to do instead of calling the police, and imagining abolitionist infrastructure for real public safety.

Abolition & Drugs

The resources below illustrate the importance of dismantling state responses to drugs that are based on prohibition and punishment, and how we can build alternatives that centre care, healing and support.

The Abolitionist Archive

Abolitionist Futures is pleased to host this digital archive of ‘The Abolitionist’ a magazine that was published in Britain between 1979 and 1987 by the group Radical Alternatives to Prison (RAP). Below you can access copies of the magazine plus an overview / commentary about each one. To view a full list of The Abolitionist archive issues (by date, issue and topic), click on the summary list here.

Gender Based Violence Series

Our Gender Based Violence Series draws on some of the focus of the Abolitionist Strategies to Gender Based Violence resource, while also teasing out some of the problems found in our current ways of conceptualising responses to gender based violence.

Gender-based and sexual violence are widespread, pervasive, and urgently need to be addressed. It seems increasingly critical that we do.  Yet the criminal legal system routinely fails to keep us safe from harm. It often inflicts more harm, particularly on those from marginalised and oppressed groups. In light of the ramping up of the Law & Order rhetoric found in the current political offerings, especially relating to Gender Based Violence, as well as the active attacks on bodily autonomy on both sides of the Atlantic we must look at our problems and myriad of potential solutions afresh.