Abolition

Prison-industrial complex (PIC) abolition is a theory of change and a practical organizing strategy that originated more than a century ago. It aims to end surveillance, criminalization, policing, and imprisonment globally, in all its forms. You can find comprehensive definitions of the PIC and PIC abolition here.

Abolition in Social Work

Engaging in an abolitionist praxis within social work means refusing the practices and political commitments that have been upheld since the profession’s inception. It means refusing the lineage of white social work and its deeply carceral protocols and engaging in a politic of solidarity and life-affirming practices. To further understand what an abolitionist praxis in social work demands of us, you can explore the Network to Advance Abolitionist Social Work.

Systems Abolitionist Social Workers are Focused on

The challenges before us—within the profession, in the United States, and globally—are great. To build beautiful, healthy futures that care and provide for the well-being of all people, land, and more-than-humankind, we need an analytical tool and organizing strategy that is unwaveringly committed to addressing root causes and upending the world as we know it. Prison-industrial complex abolition is a clear-eyed political vision for a future that is anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, anti-racist, and anti-carceral.

Abolitionist social workers practice, research, and organize across a variety of substantive areas, some of which include the following: economics (anti-capitalism); borders and migration; mental difference; disability justice; health and wellness; family policing; policing; courts; ecological justice; intimate partner violence; and education and schools.