Abolition and the State: A Discussion Tool

By Interrupting Criminalization

As movements to defund and divest from policing and invest in community safety expand in the wake of the 2020 Uprisings, abolitionist organizers are increasingly grappling with questions around the role of the state in abolitionist futures, including:

• What do we imagine/advocate for instead of police and policing?

• What actions and behaviors do we think should be regulated by the state? How should they be regulated - who should be involved? What should they be empowered to do?

• How do we think resources should be distributed? By whom and how?

Our answers to these questions profoundly shape our organizing objectives and strategies, and the context in which they unfold. This Discussion Tool provides room for readers to ask and explore generative questions that open up a multitude of possibilities both drawing from and moving beyond existing analyses and frameworks.