What keeps us safe? What is public safety, what are the conditions that produce safety and how can we, both collectively and individually, intervene to address harm? Many people who believe police and prisons are essential also believe that non-carceral solutions are essential too—but may not know what those look like. For those who are new to abolition, it is easier to answer what doesn’t work than what does.
In this session, we’ll discuss the drivers of interpersonal harm, what the research shows about policy responses to reduce and redress that harm, and what we can do about these ourselves. We’ll also discuss how ‘thinking like an abolitionist’ is helpful for critically engaging questions of public safety (even if you are not an abolitionist) and the role of movement lawyering as one strategy among others at shifting to more non-carceral approaches.
This session will be led by Brittany N. Francis, Deputy Director of Litigation at Civil Rights Corps (CRC), where she leads their police accountability work in Houston and in D.C. CRC is a non-profit civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2016, CRC challenges wealth-based and race-based systems of oppression and works to shift power to community-led movements, particularly those led by Black and Brown people who are most affected by this legal system.
The Policing Project at CRC works to hold police accountable for abusive conduct while building shared community and power among legal advocates, community organizers, and survivors. We train and connect lawyers with survivors of police violence who may otherwise have difficulty securing legal representation. We also work alongside organizers to shrink police power and reduce the harm police cause in our communities through grassroots campaigns against police violence.