Abolition Ethics

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What Is Abolition?

Abolition means more than the absence of police or prisons. It is:

• A commitment to ending systems of punishment, control, and caging
• A practice of rebuilding communities with safety, care, and mutual accountability
• A refusal to accept violence as justice

Abolition is a moral stance rooted in the belief that no one is disposable.

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Historical Roots

Abolitionism originally referred to the movement to end slavery. Modern abolition builds on this legacy by opposing all systems of racialized captivity—including mass incarceration, immigration enforcement, and institutionalization.

Influences include:

• The Black Radical Tradition
• Indigenous sovereignty movements
• Feminist and queer liberatory praxis
• Restorative and transformative justice efforts

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Why Abolish ICE, Police, and Prisons?

These institutions:

• Were founded in racial violence (e.g., slave patrols, settler militias)
• Are inherently coercive, designed to maintain inequality
• Fail to meet core needs like safety, shelter, or care
• Disproportionately target Black, Brown, Indigenous, migrant, trans, disabled, and poor communities

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The Ethical Logic of Abolition

Abolition ethics challenge us to ask:

• What are the root causes of harm?
• Can we respond without reproducing trauma or violence?
• What would it take to create a world where policing isn’t necessary?

Abolition requires us to imagine and practice new responses to harm—ones that heal, not harm further.

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Accountability Without Violence

Abolition is not about ignoring harm. It’s about replacing punishment with transformation.

Abolitionist Responses to Harm

Harm Scenario	Carceral Response	Abolitionist Alternative
Theft	Call police, press charges	Restorative circle to address needs and repair relationships
Intimate partner violence	Arrest perpetrator	Safety planning, survivor-led community intervention
Vandalism	Fines or jail	Repair labor + dialogue about grievances

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Reform vs. Abolition

Why not just reform?

• Reforms usually strengthen institutions (e.g., funding for surveillance)
• They rarely challenge the logic of punishment
• Abolitionists argue these systems are functioning as designed — to control and exclude

Abolition pushes us to build new systems, not just patch old ones.

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Abolition as Creation

Abolition is generative, not just subtractive.

• Instead of prisons: Healing circles, housing, mental health care
• Instead of police: Crisis teams, community patrols, de-escalators
• Instead of deportation: Sanctuary networks, documentation aid, universal belonging

“Abolition is about presence, not absence. It's about building life-affirming institutions.”
— Ruth Wilson Gilmore

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Practice-Based Ethics

Abolition is a daily practice, not just theory.

• Interrupt carceral language (replace “guilty” or “deserving” with neutral terms)
• Make room for repair, growth, and return instead of exclusion
• Use nonviolent communication in conflicts
• Build resilience through mutual care, not state power

Pod Challenge:
Each week, identify one carceral habit (e.g., calling out rather than calling in) and replace it with an abolitionist alternative.

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Disability, Class, and Global Justice

• Disability Justice: Institutions often cage disabled people. Abolition includes dismantling these systems.
• Class Dynamics: Carceral systems target poor communities across races.
• Global Perspective: Abolition extends to borders, detention centers, and international solidarity (e.g., groups like No More Deaths).

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Abolition in the ICE Tea Ecosystem

ICE Tea Academy applies abolitionist ethics by:

• Protecting communities from surveillance and detention
• Educating on liberatory practices
• Refusing to collaborate with punitive systems
• Designing tools and dispatch roles rooted in care, not control

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Summary: Abolition Ethics at a Glance

Ethic	Practice Example
No one is disposable	Intervene in harm with compassion
Care is the foundation	Build safe spaces, not punitive ones
Liberation is collective	Work across lines of difference
Harm requires transformation	Center healing and change, not punishment
Build new systems	Create mutual aid, housing, and crisis networks

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Reflection & Action

Who do you become when you believe no one is disposable?
What would change in your organizing? Your relationships?

This Week’s Action:
Commit to one abolitionist practice (e.g., supporting a bail fund, auditing your org’s policies for carceral language, joining a TJ collective).

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Resource Hub

• Books: We Do This ’Til We Free Us (Mariame Kaba)
• Lesson Plans: Project NIA
• Orgs: Critical Resistance, Survived & Punished, No More Deaths

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Ready to Qualify?

If you can explain the difference between punishment and accountability, understand the roots of abolition, and commit to practicing these ethics, mark this lesson as complete.