The prison abolition movement seeks to abolish prisons and the prison system. The movement advocates for the abolition of prisons and the prison system on the basis of it being ineffective. Prison abolitionists present a broad critique of the modern criminal justice system, which they believe to be racist, sexist, and classist. They also see prisons and the prison system as an ineffectual way to reform criminals, decrease crime, and reconcile the victims of crime. For the prison abolition movement, the goal is not to improve the system or offer reforms, but to actually shrink the system into non-existence.
Read more about Prison Abolition Movement: Advocates For Prison Abolition, Prison Reforms and Alternatives, Arguments Made For Prison Abolition, Women and Prison, Illicit Drugs and Prison, Mental Illness and Prison
Famous quotes containing the words prison, abolition and/or movement:
“He that has his chains knocked off, and the prison doors set open to him, is perfectly at liberty, because he may either go or stay, as he best likes; though his preference be determined to stay, by the darkness of the night, or illness of the weather, or want of other lodging. He ceases not to be free, though the desire of some convenience to be had there absolutely determines his preference, and makes him stay in his prison.”
—John Locke (1632–1704)
“It was a marvel, an enigma in abolition latitudes, that the slaves did not rise en-masse, at the beginning of hostilities.”
—Rebecca Latimer Felton (1835–1930)
“What had really caused the women’s movement was the additional years of human life. At the turn of the century women’s life expectancy was forty-six; now it was nearly eighty. Our groping sense that we couldn’t live all those years in terms of motherhood alone was “the problem that had no name.” Realizing that it was not some freakish personal fault but our common problem as women had enabled us to take the first steps to change our lives.”
—Betty Friedan (20th century)