THIS TOOLKIT EMERGED OUT OF DISCUSSIONS THAT BEGAN IN BOSTON IN MARCH 2002. Members of Critical Resistance (CR) and partner organizations gathered for a roundtable discussion on abolitionist organizing strategies. One of the things that we agreed we needed to strengthen our work was a set of ideas, exercises, and resources to share with the people we organize with that would explain the idea of abolishing the prison industrial complex (PIC) and would help us take concrete steps toward that goal.

The kit is not a step-by-step guide to PIC abolition. It is a kit designed primarily for U.S.-based community organizers already working toward abolition and our allies. However, we hope it will be useful even for people who may not have thought much about abolition or who feel unsure about how useful it is as a goal…

…this toolkit is not an ending point, but a place to start thinking about these issues. It is a living document that you should add to continually as you discover more ideas and materials that help you take concrete steps toward PIC abolition. If you come across an exercise that you think gets to the heart of the issue, send it our way. If you hear about a great group working to end the PIC, let us know. If you develop pamphlets or talking points or keywords that make doing this work easier, give us a call. We need as many tools as we can get to fight this fight…

.- CR ABOLITION TOOLKIT WORKGROUP, 2004

Part 2: INFORMATION SHEETS

Part 3: INFORMATION SHEETS cont., WHY DO WE DO THIS? HOW DO WE DO THIS?, CONFRONTING “CRIME,” CONFRONTING HARM

Part 4: COMMON SENSE, FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS, TOOLS FOR FRAMING ABOLITIONIST ARGUMENTS IN TERMS OF WHAT WE WANT

Part 5: WORDS MATTER: THOUGHTS ON LANGUAGE AND ABOLITION, SHRINKING THE SYSTEM

Part 6: ABOLITIONIST STEPS, ALTERNATIVE PRACTICES, SEVEN EASY STEPS: IDEAS & QUESTIONS FOR EVERYDAY ABOLITIONIST ORGANZING

Part 7: KEYWORDS

Part 8: KEYWORDS cont., RESOURCE DIRECTORY

Part 9: BIBLIOGRAPHY, APPENDIX

Part 10: APPENDIX cont.