Scholarship@WashULaw

The Reach of Legal Cynicism: A Comment on Tommie Shelby’s The Idea of Prison Abolition

Document Type

Article

Language

English (en)

Publication Date

2025

Publication Title

Criminal Law and Philosophy

Abstract

In The Idea of Abolition, Tommie Shelby traces the prison abolition movement in the U.S. to 1960s Black radical politics, a politics based in war metaphors and isolationist anti-state ideology. While an understandable response to government persecution of mid-twentieth century Black activists, anti-state ideology is a poor fit for the Black communities of the present. Something similar can be said about a prison abolition politics that broadly rejects the notion that criminal detention has a role to play—however limited—within the broader project of rehabilitating beleaguered Black residential communities.

Keywords

Prisons, Abolition, Black Activism, Racial Domination, Economic Marginalization

Publication Citation

Trevor George Gardner, The Reach of Legal Cynicism: A Comment on Tommie Shelby’s The Idea of Prison Abolition, 19 Crim. L. & Phil. 465 (2025)

Comments

Available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-025-09757-8.

Link

Share

COinS