Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-1-2025
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Public Policy Leadership
First Advisor
Kyle Fritz
Second Advisor
Patrick Alexander
Third Advisor
Kesicia Dickinson
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
As concerns about mass incarceration persist, prison abolition offers an innovative approach to safety and justice. The prison abolition movement has been active in the United States since the 1970s. Despite increasingly critical attitudes of the prison system, prison abolition is yet to be accepted in mainstream policy making. Instead, policymakers focus on reform, which problematically legitimizes and reinforces locking people away as criminals. One reason why reform takes precedent may be that prison abolition is often understood in negative terms, as a movement that only advocates ending incarceration. However, its essence is better captured in positive terms, such as programs and policies that we may enact to create a world without prisons. Chapters 2 and 3 explore the philosophical debate underlying punishment, positioning abolition as more favorable than retributivist and consequentialist approaches. The subsequent chapters explore and evaluate the negative and positive agendas. Drawing from the seminal abolitionist text Instead of Prisons: A Handbook for Abolitionists, this thesis explores avenues for policymakers to implement abolitionist agendas. The handbook offers the five step attrition model: moratorium, decarceration, excarceration, restraint of “the few”, and building a caring community. An analysis of these steps reveal a framework that can still be used today to guide policy making.
Recommended Citation
Davis, Kristen, "A World Without Prison: The role of policy in prison abolition" (2025). Honors Theses. 3320.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/3320