Abolition Now! (Not held by Butler) by
Over seven million people live under the control of US prison and parole systems. The vast majority of them are people of colour or youth. Between 2000 and 2007, Congress added 454 new offences to the criminal code. In comparison, Blair added 3000 new laws during his leadership. The UK prison population is similarly skewed in terms of race and class. For a decade, Critical Resistance has organised to abolish the reliance on imprisonment, policing and surveillance. Reflecting on key themes of Dismantle, Change and Build, this book celebrates their bold strategies and work.
Are Prisons Obsolete? (Not held by Butler) by
Since the 1980s prison construction and incarceration rates in the U.S. have been rising exponentially, evoking huge public concern about their proliferation, their recent privatisation and their promise of enormous profits. But these prisons house hugely disproportionate numbers of people of colour, betraying the racism embedded in the system, while studies show that increasing prison sentences has had no effect on crime. Here, esteemed civil rights activist Angela Davis lays bare the situation and argues for a radical rethinking of our rehabilitation programmes.
Chained in Silence by
In 1868, the state of Georgia began to make its rapidly growing population of prisoners available for hire. The resulting convict leasing system ensnared not only men but also African American women, who were forced to labor in camps and factories to make profits for private investors. In this vivid work of history, Talitha L. LeFlouria draws from a rich array of primary sources to piece together the stories of these women, recounting what they endured in Georgia's prison system and what their labor accomplished. LeFlouria argues that African American women's presence within the convict lease and chain-gang systems of Georgia helped to modernize the South by creating a new and dynamic set of skills for black women. At the same time, female inmates struggled to resist physical and sexual exploitation and to preserve their human dignity within a hostile climate of terror. This revealing history redefines the social context of black women's lives and labor in the New South and allows their stories to be told for the first time.
Justice for Kids by
Children and youth become involved with the juvenile justice system at a significant rate. While some children move just as quickly out of the system and go on to live productive lives as adults, other children become enmeshed in the system, developing deeper problems and or transferring into the adult criminal justice system. Justice for Kids is a volume of work by leading academics and activists that focuses on ways to intervene at the earliest possible point to rehabilitate and redirect--to keep kids out of the system--rather than to punish and drive kids deeper. Justice for Kids presents a compelling argument for rethinking and restructuring the juvenile justice system as we know it. This unique collection explores the system's fault lines with respect to all children, and focuses in particular on issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation that skew the system. Most importantly, it provides specific program initiatives that offer alternatives to our thinking about prevention and deterrence, with an ultimate focus on keeping kids out of the system altogether.
Just Schools by
Restorative justice is a dynamic and innovative way of dealing with conflict in schools, promoting understanding and healing over assigning blame or dispensing punishment. It can create an ethic of care and justice that makes schools safer and happier, not only through reducing conflict, but also in terms of developing active citizenship skills, good self-esteem, open communication and team work in students. From a teaching background herself, Belinda Hopkins is at the forefront of the development of restorative justice in the UK, and in this practical handbook she presents a whole school approach to repairing harm using a variety of means including peer mediation, healing circles and conference circles. She provides clear, practical guidance for group sessions and examines issues and ideas relating to practical skill development for facilitators. Clearly structured and with photocopiable sheets, this book is an excellent resource for teachers, school counsellors and youth workers seeking a more positive and effective way to deal with conflict in educational settings.
Policing the Planet (Not held by Butler) by
Policing has become one of the urgent issues of our time, the target of dramatic movements and front-page coverage from coast to coast in the United States, and, indeed, across the world. Now a star-studded, wide-ranging collection of writers and activists offers a global response, describing ongoing struggles over policing from New York to Ferguson to Los Angeles, as well as London, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, and Mexico City. This book, combining first-hand accounts from organisers with the research of eminent scholars and contributions by leading artists, traces the global rise of the 'broken-windows' style of policing, first established in New York City under Police Commissioner William Bratton, who was appointed to the post in 1993 and then reappointed twenty years later in 2013. Initially praised as a comprehensive model of community policing, it purports to prevent major crimes by first criminalising small signs of disorder. In practice, this doctrine has broadened police power and contributed to the contemporary crisis of policing that has been sparked by notorious incidents of police brutality and killings.
Queering Sexual Violence (Not held by Butler) by
Often pushed to the margins, queer, transgender and gender non-conforming survivors have been organizing in anti-violence work since the birth of the movement. Queering Sexual Violence: Radical Voices from Within the Anti-Violence Movement locates them at the center of the anti-violence movement and creates a space for their voices to be heard. Moving beyond dominant narratives and the traditional "violence against women" framework, the book is multi-gendered, multi-racial and multi-layered. This thirty-seven piece collection disrupts the mainstream conversations about sexual violence and connects them to disability justice, sex worker rights, healing justice, racial justice, gender self-determination, queer & trans liberation and prison industrial complex abolition through reflections, personal narrative, and strategies for resistance and healing. Where systems, institutions, families, communities and partners have failed them, this collection lifts them up, honors a multitude of lived experiences and shares the radical work that is being done outside mainstream anti-violence and the non-profit industrial complex.
The Real Cost of Prisons Comix by 
Resistance Behind Bars by
Resistance Behind Bars is an important and uplifting call to end prisons as they currently are, supported by stories of struggles and uprisings in women's prisons over the years. While many have heard of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, the 1974 August Rebellion remains relatively unknown even in activist circles. Resistance Behind Bars is determined to challenge and change such oversights. As it examines daily struggles against appalling prison conditions and injustices, the book details collective organising and individual resistance among incarcerated women
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