Gilmore joins host Chenjerai Kumanyika to show how police and prison expansion are central to the American project. Through her sweeping analysis, she makes the case for prison abolition and defunding as essential political strategies —Listen on Apple Podcasts

Abstract: Panelists looked at the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery, and examined its relationship to issues of today's criminal justice system. They discussed policing, incarceration, the fight against drugs, and the role of prosecutors and grand juries. Speakers included an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the chair of Howard University's Afro-American Studies Department. The forum was part of the annual Benjamin Drummond Emancipation Day Celebration.— Available on C-Span site

Abstract: A deep dive into the origins and functions of U.S. policing. Covers colonial era slave patrols, urban police and strike-breaking, and COINTELPRO. Abstract: Williams dismantles myths (like “the police keep us safe”) by showing historical evidence that police were created to protect the propertied and racial order. It also touches on alternatives and community self-defense traditions, making it a good comprehensive primer. — Available via AK Press

Abstract: Traces the U.S. prison system from the 13th Amendment’s loophole (allowing forced labor for convicts) through convict leasing, Jim Crow, War on Drugs, to the current prison-industrial complex. Features interviews with Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, etc.

Abstract: A seminal geography of incarceration’s boom in California, coining “abolition geography.” Gilmore examines how surplus land, labor, capital, and state capacity converged to drive prison expansion in the 80s–90s. Abstract: It provides the economic and racial context behind mass incarceration’s rise, giving abolitionists a structural understanding that our struggle must transform these underlying conditions (e.g., invest in rural economies, not prisons).

Abstract: A broad historical analysis demonstrating that modern policing evolved to control working class and Black populations (e.g., slave patrols, strike-breaking). Vitale argues reforms (training, diversity) won’t fix policing’s core role and makes the case for shifting to alternatives in mental health, schools, housing, etc. Each chapter covers a different police function (drugs, sex work, gangs) and how to replace it — Available on Verso site