Crime and Punishment (and Liberalism)
Liberal and Neoliberal legislation has starkly impacted America’s criminal legal system. The 1994 Crime Bill and the 1996 Welfare to Work Act, for example, heralded an explosive expansion of prisons and policing in the US over the past few decades, and definitively linked poverty to criminality—effectively demonizing poor communities, and particularly communities of color.
Our panel will critique and reckon with the harmful modes of punishment that liberal policies have yielded. How are liberals (both as individuals and as the Democratic establishment) reacting to urgent calls to challenge the carceral systems they themselves constructed? Where do liberal promises of "reform" and "rehabilitation" fall short—and how do they contrast and clash with abolitionist, community-based organizing? And how can we best end the revolving door of "punishment" and "redemption" that many court-involved people face, and simply give them a chance to thrive?
Speakers include:
K Adetoyin Agbebiyi (they/them) is a full-time macro social worker based in Atlanta, GA. The majority of their work revolves around political education, writing, and organizing strategy in regards to ending the prison industrial complex. In their 6+ years of organizing, K has organized in groups working on immigration, LGBTQ, reproductive, and racial justice. K has given trainings and talks at universities such as Yale, Columbia, and the University of Illinois-Chicago Medical School. K’s writing has been featured on Rewire News, WearYourVoice and MoMA PS1. They’ve also been featured in magazines such as BITCH and Glamour. In 2020, they were chosen for the BITCH 50 list. They are a co-creator of 8toabolition.com, and a member of Survived and Punished’s New York chapter, along with several other abolitionist collectives throughout NYC/Atlanta. Follow K on instagram and twitter @sheabutterfemme.
Dr. Jerry Flores is an Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto in the Department of Sociology. He is the author of the book Caught Up: Girls, Surveillance and Wraparound Incarceration and has written multiple articles about the justice involved young women. His second book will discuss the experiences of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Canada.
Maya Schenwar is the editor-in-chief of Truthout, co-author of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms (with Victoria Law), author of Locked Down, Locked Out: Why Prison Doesn't Work and How We Can Do Better, and co-editor of Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States. She has written about the prison-industrial complex for Truthout, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, Salon, Ms. Magazine, and many others. She is the recipient of a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Chi Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, the Women's Prison Association's Sarah Powell Huntington Leadership Award, and a Lannan Residency Fellowship. Maya organizes with the abolitionist collective Love & Protect and was a cofounder of the Chicago Community Bond Fund. Maya gave a Tedx talk on prison abolition, has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, and has been a keynote speaker in a wide range of settings. She lives in Chicago with her partner, toddler, and abolitionist cat.
