Event Time: 11am PT/2pm ET/7pm UK
The Idea of Prison Abolition
Tommie Shelby in conversation with Andy West
Can the practice of imprisonment be reformed, or does justice require it to be ended altogether?
Despite its omnipresence and long history, imprisonment is a deeply troubling practice. In the United States and elsewhere, prison conditions are inhumane, prisoners are treated without dignity, and sentences are extremely harsh. Mass incarceration and its devastating impact on black communities have been widely condemned as neoslavery or “the new Jim Crow.”
In conversation with Andy West, renowned Harvard philosopher Tommie Shelby will examine the abolitionist case against prisons and its formidable challenge to would-be prison reformers. While a world without prisons might be utopian, Shelby will make the case that we can make meaningful progress toward this ideal by abolishing the structural injustices that too often lead to crime and its harmful consequences. You can find out more and register here.