Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Working Paper

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2025

Publication Title

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law Legal Studies Research Series

Abstract

From leading academic journals to popular press outlets, abolitionist activism and scholarship have earned airtime in national debates about criminal justice reform. But what is "abolition?" When scholars, lawyers, and activists talk about abolition, they seem to mean very different, even conflicting, things. In this Essay, I focus on a core question that might divide different abolitionists-and different critics of abolition: what is to be abolished? Abolitionists argue that it's critically important to abolish something, while critics of abolition insist that something is necessary to a well-functioning society. Yet, it's not always clear what that something is-both for abolitionists and their critics. Defunding police is different than defunding prisons, and defending police is different than defending prisons.

In this Essay, I argue that contemporary debates about abolition would benefit from greater clarity. I lay out a range of different targets for abolitionists-prisons, police, the "prison industrial complex," and a number of broader cultural and structural phenomena. In explaining how these different targets might make for different abolitionisms, I raise what I take to be the core theoretical and practical questions for each abolitionist project. I hope to drill down on different understandings of "abolition"-what might they entail, and what questions do they raise? More precision won't necessarily resolve increasingly common debates about "abolition versus reform." Nevertheless, more precision might make those debates more productive. To the extent that academic engagement with abolitionist activism and theory continues to increase, it's worth stepping back to make sure that we aren't talking past one another.

From leading academic journals to popular press outlets, abolitionist activism and scholarship have earned airtime in national debates about criminal justice reform. But what is "abolition?" When scholars, lawyers, and activists talk about abolition, they seem to mean very different, even conflicting, things. In this Essay, I focus on a core question that might divide different abolitionists-and different critics of abolition: what is to be abolished? Abolitionists argue that it's critically important to abolish something, while critics of abolition insist that something is necessary to a well-functioning society. Yet, it's not always clear what that something is-both for abolitionists and their critics. Defunding police is different than defunding prisons, and defending police is different than defending prisons.

In this Essay, I argue that contemporary debates about abolition would benefit from greater clarity. I lay out a range of different targets for abolitionists-prisons, police, the "prison industrial complex," and a number of broader cultural and structural phenomena. In explaining how these different targets might make for different abolitionisms, I raise what I take to be the core theoretical and practical questions for each abolitionist project. I hope to drill down on different understandings of "abolition"-what might they entail, and what questions do they raise? More precision won't necessarily resolve increasingly common debates about "abolition versus reform." Nevertheless, more precision might make those debates more productive. To the extent that academic engagement with abolitionist activism and theory continues to increase, it's worth stepping back to make sure that we aren't talking past one another.

Keywords

Abolition, Criminal Law, Legal Theory, Theories of Punishment, Prisons, Prison Abolition, Police, Police Abolition, Pic, Pic Abolition, Prison Industrial Complex, Criminal Law Minimalism, Carceral State

Publication Citation

Benjamin Levin, Abolish What?, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series No. 25-03-10 (2025)

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