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Critical Resistance
Critical Resistance (CR) is a U.S. based organization with the stated goal of abolishing the prison-industrial complex (PIC). Critical Resistance's national office is in Oakland, California, with three additional chapters in New York City, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon. Despite claims of being an internationalist organization, CR has not led any abolitionist campaigns outside of the USA, though individual members have built relationships abroad (mostly in the West).
Critical Resistance has worked towards abolition of the PIC since its first conference in 1998. It considers the prison-industrial complex to be a response to societal issues including but not limited to homelessness, immigration, and gender-based violence. Since 1998 it has taken part in numerous campaigns and projects to close prisons, stop new prisons from being built, address the root cause of interpersonal harm, and promote restorative practices.
Critical Resistance was founded by Rose Braz, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Angela Davis, and several others in 1997. The organization is primarily volunteer member-based, with a small number of paid staff members based in Oakland.
Each chapter determines its own work independently. Projects included:
Critical Resistance takes an abolitionist stance against the prison industrial complex which draws from the legacy of the slavery abolition movement in the 1800s. CR abolitionists view the current prison system as not "broken" as many reformists do, but as working effectively at what they say is its true purpose: to contain, control, and kill those people that the state sees as threats, including people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community. CR's goal is not to reform the prison system but to dismantle it completely, and create new ways of accountability and community care. The three key dimensions of Critical Resistance are public policy, community organizing, and academic research. CR utilizes academic work, legislative and other policy interventions, and grassroots campaigns in an effort to reverse the expansion of prisons and to call for the decriminalization of drugs and prostitution. Part of CR's mission statement asserts that it is the provision of basic necessities such as food, shelter, and care - not incarceration and punishment - that will make communities safe and secure.
Critical Resistance (CR) was formed in 1997. Activists founded CR to address issues of mass incarceration and policing. On September 25–27, 1998, Critical Resistance held its first conference at the University of California, Berkeley. Over 3,500 participants attended, including former and current prisoners and their families, activists, academics, religious leaders, homeless people, policymakers, and members of the LGBTQ community. This conference challenged what it called the prison industrial complex (PIC). Critical Resistance says that the government has commodified prisons as desirable and, in return, has gained public support to expand prisons. CR's initial international conference put the term "prison-industrial complex" on the national agenda with the goal of convincing the American public to stop mass incarceration. CR's mission statement supports abolishing the PIC, and promotes the idea that capitalism profits from incarceration, particularly the incarceration of people of color, women, and the poor. The conference encouraged different organizations to engage in activism. In particular, the "Schools Not Jails" initiative and the Youthforce Coalition began to combat what they called the "criminalization of youth of color" after the conference.
Critical Resistance holds conferences as a strategy to open discussion about prisons, gain insight from different activists and participants, and spread information to different parts of the United States. CR hosted more conferences through Critical Resistance South in New Orleans and Critical Resistance East in New York. Critical Resistance has been working on numerous campaigns and projects to abolish prisons locally, nationally, and worldwide.
The Prisoner Mail Working Group in CR receives letters from prisoners regularly in order to stay connected to them and understand what is happening in prisons. CR says it is crucial that the voices of diverse communities are heard, especially prisoners, in order to create a collective dialogue that can expose the reality of prisons.
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Critical Resistance
Critical Resistance (CR) is a U.S. based organization with the stated goal of abolishing the prison-industrial complex (PIC). Critical Resistance's national office is in Oakland, California, with three additional chapters in New York City, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon. Despite claims of being an internationalist organization, CR has not led any abolitionist campaigns outside of the USA, though individual members have built relationships abroad (mostly in the West).
Critical Resistance has worked towards abolition of the PIC since its first conference in 1998. It considers the prison-industrial complex to be a response to societal issues including but not limited to homelessness, immigration, and gender-based violence. Since 1998 it has taken part in numerous campaigns and projects to close prisons, stop new prisons from being built, address the root cause of interpersonal harm, and promote restorative practices.
Critical Resistance was founded by Rose Braz, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Angela Davis, and several others in 1997. The organization is primarily volunteer member-based, with a small number of paid staff members based in Oakland.
Each chapter determines its own work independently. Projects included:
Critical Resistance takes an abolitionist stance against the prison industrial complex which draws from the legacy of the slavery abolition movement in the 1800s. CR abolitionists view the current prison system as not "broken" as many reformists do, but as working effectively at what they say is its true purpose: to contain, control, and kill those people that the state sees as threats, including people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community. CR's goal is not to reform the prison system but to dismantle it completely, and create new ways of accountability and community care. The three key dimensions of Critical Resistance are public policy, community organizing, and academic research. CR utilizes academic work, legislative and other policy interventions, and grassroots campaigns in an effort to reverse the expansion of prisons and to call for the decriminalization of drugs and prostitution. Part of CR's mission statement asserts that it is the provision of basic necessities such as food, shelter, and care - not incarceration and punishment - that will make communities safe and secure.
Critical Resistance (CR) was formed in 1997. Activists founded CR to address issues of mass incarceration and policing. On September 25–27, 1998, Critical Resistance held its first conference at the University of California, Berkeley. Over 3,500 participants attended, including former and current prisoners and their families, activists, academics, religious leaders, homeless people, policymakers, and members of the LGBTQ community. This conference challenged what it called the prison industrial complex (PIC). Critical Resistance says that the government has commodified prisons as desirable and, in return, has gained public support to expand prisons. CR's initial international conference put the term "prison-industrial complex" on the national agenda with the goal of convincing the American public to stop mass incarceration. CR's mission statement supports abolishing the PIC, and promotes the idea that capitalism profits from incarceration, particularly the incarceration of people of color, women, and the poor. The conference encouraged different organizations to engage in activism. In particular, the "Schools Not Jails" initiative and the Youthforce Coalition began to combat what they called the "criminalization of youth of color" after the conference.
Critical Resistance holds conferences as a strategy to open discussion about prisons, gain insight from different activists and participants, and spread information to different parts of the United States. CR hosted more conferences through Critical Resistance South in New Orleans and Critical Resistance East in New York. Critical Resistance has been working on numerous campaigns and projects to abolish prisons locally, nationally, and worldwide.
The Prisoner Mail Working Group in CR receives letters from prisoners regularly in order to stay connected to them and understand what is happening in prisons. CR says it is crucial that the voices of diverse communities are heard, especially prisoners, in order to create a collective dialogue that can expose the reality of prisons.