New Open Access Article Explores the Gendered Violence of Prosecution and Abolitionist Feminist Approaches to Social Care
The University of California Sentencing Project (UC Sentencing Project) has published a groundbreaking open-access article, Disrupting the Abuse-Prison Nexus: The Gendered Violence of Prosecution and Abolitionist Feminist Approaches to Social Care Work, in collaboration with the California Coalition for Women Prisoners.
Authored by Sid P. Jordan, Emily Thuma, Aylaliyah Assefa Birru, Deirdre Wilson, Romarilyn Ralston, Norma Cumpian, and Joseph Hankins, the article examines the abuse-to-prison pipeline through the experiences of criminalized survivors of interpersonal violence in California. Based on in-depth interviews and participatory research with 22 formerly incarcerated individuals—who collectively served over 300 years in prison—the study exposes how prosecution perpetuates coercive control and state violence.
By centering the voices of those directly impacted, this research challenges the legal system’s role in prolonging cycles of harm rather than offering protection. It calls for abolitionist feminist approaches to social care and collective defense as alternatives to punitive state interventions.
The UC Sentencing Project, supported by a $2 million Mellon Foundation grant, continues to amplify the perspectives of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals through interdisciplinary research and advocacy.
