Ti Lamusse
I am a Lecturer in Criminology at Victoria University of Wellington. My research interests include: prison abolition and abolitionist alternatives to imprisonment; conditions of confinement in prisons; deaths in custody; solitary confinement; critical theory; queer criminology; and social movements.
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immiseration and violence. For more than one hundred years, criminal justice researchers, and officials have been aware of the inability
of prisons to address harm, and of their perverse social consequences. For more than fifty years, prison abolitionists have been
researching and campaigning for the end of imprisonment.
However, for much of the last fifty years, prison populations
across the world have ballooned, as tough-on-crime law and order
policies have been implemented alongside neoliberal economics
and austerity.
In recent years, however, mobilisations of millions of people
across the world in support of Black Lives Matter, and related
social movements, have spurred interest in abolitionism as a part of
the response to racial injustice. This flood of public and academic
interest in abolitionism has also exposed some of the shortcomings
of abolitionism as a viable political project. Despite some important
wins, abolitionists have not yet been able to capture this political
moment. This is, in part, because of limitations within abolitionist
scholarship and activism.
Based on the experience of the abolitionist movement in Aotearoa/
New Zealand, this article analyses the limitations of abolitionist
thought and suggests some ways forward. It argues that abolitionist scholars and activists have failed to seriously engage with alternatives
to prisons. This is a fundamental issue. If we are committed to the abolition of prisons, then we must engage rigorously with how to reach
that goal. Indeed, without a serious account of what could come after
prisons, we limit the possibilities of a community-led, activist, scholarly and political movement.
immiseration and violence. For more than one hundred years, criminal justice researchers, and officials have been aware of the inability
of prisons to address harm, and of their perverse social consequences. For more than fifty years, prison abolitionists have been
researching and campaigning for the end of imprisonment.
However, for much of the last fifty years, prison populations
across the world have ballooned, as tough-on-crime law and order
policies have been implemented alongside neoliberal economics
and austerity.
In recent years, however, mobilisations of millions of people
across the world in support of Black Lives Matter, and related
social movements, have spurred interest in abolitionism as a part of
the response to racial injustice. This flood of public and academic
interest in abolitionism has also exposed some of the shortcomings
of abolitionism as a viable political project. Despite some important
wins, abolitionists have not yet been able to capture this political
moment. This is, in part, because of limitations within abolitionist
scholarship and activism.
Based on the experience of the abolitionist movement in Aotearoa/
New Zealand, this article analyses the limitations of abolitionist
thought and suggests some ways forward. It argues that abolitionist scholars and activists have failed to seriously engage with alternatives
to prisons. This is a fundamental issue. If we are committed to the abolition of prisons, then we must engage rigorously with how to reach
that goal. Indeed, without a serious account of what could come after
prisons, we limit the possibilities of a community-led, activist, scholarly and political movement.