Atlanta’s Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative dispatches two-person harm reduction teams, instead of the cops.Photo: Dustin Chambers

So, what’s the alternative?

Community organizations are helping keep people safe where the police fail. Here are some examples from Puerto Rico, Brazil and the US.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
Shut out – Too many children are young people are being discarded by England’s education system.Photo: Ievgen Chabanov/Alamy

Abandoned by the system

England’s schools funnel its most marginalized young people towards the criminal justice system, writes Zahra Bei. But abolitionists are reimagining what’s possible.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
Illustration: Alona Savchuk/Shutterstock

Everyday abolition: resisting the cop in our heads

Sarah Lamble explores the opportunities to challenge punitive logic in our day-to-day lives and replace it with social justice.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
Jessie jokes with his dad. Jessie wrote to Briarpatch: ‘Growing up, my dad was in prison. When I got a life sentence, he changed his life and stayed out and has been my support. This picture is me mimicking my nieces, who pull on his beard – it’s something I never got to do as a kid…’Photo: Jessie Milo

Healed people, heal people

Writing from a Californian prison, Jessie Milo sets out his vision for a more caring society.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
10 steps towards abolition

10 steps towards abolition

From stopping criminalizing poverty to taking down the prison-industrial-complex.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
Riot police hit protesters participating in a demonstration against lawmakers’ salary demands outside the parliament buildings in Nairobi in May 2013.Photo: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters/Alamy

Colonize and punish

Mass imprisonment and merciless policing were the preferred tools of control for European colonizers. Patrick Gathara explores the legacy left in Kenya.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
Action & info

Action & info

Campaigns, groups, media, and further reading on Abolition.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
Making friends at the Bomana Prison, in Port Moresby City, Papua New Guinea in December 2017.Photo: Marc Dozier/Hemis/Alamy

Beyond punishment

Can we create a world where we don’t turn to police and prisons for justice? Amy Hall explores the movement offering a different vision for the future.

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NI 536 - Abolition - March, 2022
Should prisons be abolished?

Should prisons be abolished?

Prisons damage people and have always been used by the powerful to control the most marginalized. But when some criminals undoubtedly pose great danger to others, can society really do away with incarceration altogether? Kelsey Mohamed and Andrew Neilson go head to head.

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NI 524 - How we make poverty - March, 2020

Seriously?

Penal labour is still big bucks.

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NI 519 - How to avoid climate breakdown - May, 2019
Sanctuary boroughs

Sanctuary boroughs

A community group is campaigning to turn the London borough of Haringey into a safer place for migrants. Charlotte England reports.

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NI 512 - Public ownership rises again - May, 2018
Clockwise from top left: Aerial photograph of the luxury Ritz Carlton resort near Manama, with the skyline of the capital in the distance; a Bahraini law student – there are more opportunities for women than in neighbouring Saudi Arabia; locals horse riding in the desert; a demonstration by Bahrainis in London demanding democratic rights in their country; the modern souk in Manama.All photos from Alamy; photographers from top left: Ben Nicholson, Michael Austen, Giuseppe Masci, Peter Wheeler, Jack Malipan.

Country Profile: Bahrain

The West finds much to celebrate about the country, but it has the largest prison population in the Middle East and world’s highest per-capita use of teargas. Zoe Holman reports on the state of Bahrain.

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NI 508 - Clampdown! Criminalizing dissent - December, 2017
Packed in: at an overcrowded California prison, inmates are housed in the gym.Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

America: Life in Prison Nation

Around 2.3 million US citizens are behind bars - a number that dwarfs any other country, reports Mark Engler.

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NI 446 - Nature's defenders - October, 2011
Razorwiretopped fences in the Camp Six detention facility at US Naval Station, Guantánamo. Photo: Mandel Ngan / REUTERS

Guantánamo: Both Sides of the Wire

Rowenna Davis meets a guard and an inmate from the notorious US prison camp in Cuba.

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NI 420 - Mothers who die - March, 2009

Inside China’s prisons

It’s difficult to know for sure how many political prisoners there currently are in China, but it’s safe to say that there are thousands of them.

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NI 413 - Viva Yasuní! Life vs Big Oil - July, 2008

Articles in this category displayed as a table:

Article title From magazine Publication date
Debt: which way out? May, 2024
Abolition March, 2022
Abolition March, 2022
Abolition March, 2022
Abolition March, 2022
Abolition March, 2022
Abolition March, 2022
Abolition March, 2022
Abolition March, 2022
How we make poverty March, 2020
How to avoid climate breakdown May, 2019
Public ownership rises again May, 2018
Clampdown! Criminalizing dissent December, 2017
Nature's defenders October, 2011
Mothers who die March, 2009
Viva Yasuní! Life vs Big Oil July, 2008
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