Abolition, scholar-activism, and deterrence: Reflections on Tommie Shelby’s The Idea of Abolition

Colleen Murphy

Politics, Philosophy & Economics, 2025, vol. 24, issue 3, 217-230

Abstract: In The Idea of Prison Abolition , philosopher Tommie Shelby critically analyzes the case for prison abolition advanced by scholar-activists such as Angela Davis. Abolition is understood as the dismantling and permanent abandonment of incarceration as a method of responding to a social problem like crime. In Shelby's view, abolitionists do not successfully show that prisons must be abolished. Prisons for him retain a necessary and morally defensible function: preventing serious crime. In my commentary, I first suggest that Shelby implicitly evaluates some of Davis's arguments on the terms of success of a scholar, not those of a scholar-activist, and does not consider an objection to his conclusions that scholar-activists are likely to raise. Second, I problematize the basis for Shelby's claim that punishment remains necessary to prevent the most serious crimes.

Keywords: punishment; abolition; transitional justice; amnesty; justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:pophec:v:24:y:2025:i:3:p:217-230

DOI: 10.1177/1470594X241292375

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