Carceral feminisms: the abolitionist project and undoing dominant feminisms

Abstract

In this article we explore the intersections between white liberal feminisms and the carceral state, particularly within nonprofit agencies. We find a strong collusion between ‘dominating feminisms’ and the carceral state, through funding structures and the belief that the legal system can provide protection to victimized women. We use evidence from our own research on rape crisis centers and gender-responsive programming for criminalized women, respectively, to investigate how some nonprofit agencies further threaten the safety, stability, and self-determination of women of color, queer women, transgendered clients, economically disadvantaged women, and disabled women. As a result, when white liberal feminists seek to intervene in the criminal legal system, we often see reform efforts that directly strengthen institutions that perpetuate economic exploitation, colonialist notions of progress, and white supremacy. We conclude our article with an exploration of some guiding principles within noncarceral antiviolence organizations that espouse a liberatory feminist framework.

Keywords:

• Feminist theory
• prison abolition
• critical prison studies
• feminist criminology
• critical criminology
• antiviolence movement

Acknowledgements

The research for this manuscript was in part supported by the Center to Advance Research and Teaching in the Social Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. The authors would also like to acknowledge Contemporary Justice Review’s anonymous reviewers for their feedback and helpful support in bringing our ideas and research to print.