Vol. 27, No. 3 (2000)

This special issue of Social Justice, edited by Critical Resistance, focuses on prison abolition as a goal and theme. The issue is broadly divided into system analyses and articles centering on organizing for change, that is, reports of struggles against the system and toward the realization of new visions. The first part deals with the politics of prisons and crime, as well as the interplay between immigration, militarization of the border, and the social control of Native populations. The second part examines the elements of public safety and well-being. It also includes discussions on the role of conferences in building movements and the prospects for prison abolition today. The final section offers resources in the form of selected videos, films, and pertinent web sites.

We are pleased to offer a combination of theoretically cogent articles and activist-inspired proposals for moving forward. It is a timely contribution considering public recognition of the bankruptcy of the War on Drugs as a central feature of the national crime policy, the movement away from the use of the death penalty, and the clear need to reappraise the prison-building boom in a period of constantly declining crime rates. The question is how such illogical and destructive policies could be sustained for so long; organizing is the answer, the path to its undoing.

"Congratulations on a fabulous issue." -- Julie Falk, Southland Prison News

"Great issue!" -- Forrest Curo, Street Light, a monthly street paper on poverty issues in San Diego