What Makes IC Unique?
Interrupting Criminalization is led by experienced Black feminist abolitionist organizers Andrea J. Ritchie and Mariame Kaba, who have each been leading in the fields of racial, gender, LGBTQ, economic, and transformative justice for over 30 years. Interrupting Criminalization uses an iterative approach to meet critical needs of grassroots movements fighting against criminalization and for community safety across the country. We are one of the few organizations leading cross-movement strategic conversations, generating a multitude of multimedia resources, and creating cohorts and practice spaces aimed at increasing the field’s capacity to meet the challenges of the current political moment.
About
Interrupting Criminalization is a movement resource hub offering information, cross-movement networks, learning, and practice for organizers, practitioners, and advocates on the cutting edge of efforts to build a world free of criminalization, policing, punishment, and violence. We are seeking philanthropic partnership to sustain and grow our capacity to fill Interrupting Criminalization’s unique role in the movement ecosystem
Why Interrupting Criminalization? Why Now?
Right now, over 10 million arrests take place annually across the country. Four million people are currently incarcerated, or on probation, parole or otherwise under the control of the criminal legal system without being incarcerated. Black, Indigenous, and migrant people are disproportionately targeted at every phase of the criminal punishment system, and women and LGBTQ people represent the fastest growing segment of prison and jail populations. We spend over $130 billion dollars annually on policing alone, robbing our communities of the nutrients needed to prevent, interrupt, and heal from violence and create safer, sustainable, and thriving communities.
These daunting statistics reflect a growing crisis in the United States — not of increasing violent crime, but of an ever-expanding web of criminalization in response to virtually every conflict, harm or need. Ultimately, the crisis of criminalization is the product of political and policy decisions and daily practices which can and must be challenged now.
Learn more about why it is crucial that we invest in defunding policing, decriminalization, decarceration, and non-criminal safety strategies, and how philanthropy can help:
Here are just some of the many ways Interrupting Criminalization supports groups and individuals across the country to intervene in the narratives, policies, and processes of criminalization:
IC Resources and Tools — e.g. One Million Experiments podcast and online catalog
Knowledge Production — e.g. Abortion Decriminalization is Part of the Larger Struggle Against Policing and Criminalization report
Learning Spaces — e.g. Building Your Abolitionist Toolbox monthly series (4 years running)
Practice Spaces — e.g. Building Coordinated Crisis Response monthly learning space
Network Building and Peer Support — e.g. Beyond Do No Harm Network & Principles for health care providers interrupting criminalization
Consultation and Tailored Strategy — e.g. Transformative Justice Fellow and Help Desk
Successes
Interrupting Criminalization is recognized as a leader in:
Bringing people together to build stronger movements as a whole. IC regularly receives feedback that our cohorts, convenings, network building, and practice spaces have connected organizers to each other and to resources, given them a sense of the bigger picture, taught them skills they haven’t found anywhere else, and helped them feel less alone in their work.
Building movement resilience through resources and cohorts to prevent and navigate organizational challenges and conflict.
Producing easy-to-understand research and resources for organizers and activists. With formats ranging from reports to videos, zines, postcards, podcasts, and posters, IC is putting out resources for interrupting criminalization and creating greater safety for all learning styles and purposes.
Event accessibility and consistent commitment to disability justice, including dedicating funding to provide ASL interpretation, CART live captioning, and Spanish interpretation at all public events, and rigorous COVID precautions for safer in-person events.
Together we can build safe, thriving, and liberatory communities.
As campaigns to divest from policing and criminalization and invest in non-punitive, community-based safety strategies across the country have gained momentum, and Right-Wing forces ramp up in response, demand for Interrupting Criminalization’s services has grown apace. We are seeking funding to sustain and grow our capacity to fulfill Interrupting Criminalization’s unique role building power across movements for racial, gender, reproductive, economic, and disability justice toward abolitionist futures.
Want to read the full version of this brief?
You can download the extended version of this document as a PDF, here.
Have questions?
We would love to tell you more about our work. You can reach Development & Operations Manager Sheila Nezhad at Sheila@interruptingcriminalization.org.