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Resources for Learning About Prison & Police Reform/Abolishment

Below is a bibliography of sources for folks who wish to learn more about police reform and abolition. (Note: The Greater Us will keep updating this page with curated information.)

For notes on how to begin engaging with anti-racism and anti-oppression work, start with this blog post.

Books

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement, edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

Something Happened in Our Town: A Child's Story About Racial Injustice by Marianne Celano, PhD, ABPP, Marietta Collins, PhD, and Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP; Illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin

Articles & Infographics

What the Prison-Abolition Movement Wants

The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration

‘Cops’ Is Off the Air. But Will We Ever Get It Out of Our Heads? 

11 Things To Do Besides Say ‘This Has To Stop’ In The Wake Of Police Brutality

List of Companies That Use Prison Labor

Reformist Reforms vs. Abolitionist Steps in Policing

The Myth of Police Reform

Summer Heat

Police and Popular Culture

How 70 years of cop shows taught us to valorize the police 

'Washington Post' Reporter Explores How Pop Culture Influences Views Of Police

Linda Fairstein Was The Inspiration Behind 'Law And Order: SVU' — Will You View It The Same?

Law & Order’s New York was never real

Bad Boys: How COPS Became the Most Polarizing TV Show in America

Copaganda: How Cop Shows Lie to You (The Daily Show)

Organizations

The Innocence Project

The Sentencing Project

Equal Justice Initiative

The Prison Policy Initiative

The Justice Policy Institute

Critical Resistance

Justice Strategies

 

Documentaries, TV Series, & Movies

13th (Ava DuVernay - available on Netflix)

When They See Us (available on Netflix)

Just Mercy (available on Prime and to rent)

Alternatives to Calling Police

What to do Instead of Calling the Police

How to Never Call the Cops Again: A Guide with a Few Alternatives to Calling Police

For a World Without Police: A Study Guide

Many thanks to our colleagues in the field, including at VISIONS, Inc., who have contributed to this list!

The Greater Us - FINALS July 2018 edit l
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