Author(s): Gwenola Ricordeau (Contribution by)

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Do prisons keep women safe? Why do some feminists turn to policing and the courts in the pursuit of women's liberation? The mainstream feminist movement has proposed "locking up the bad men," and called on the state to protect women from misogynist violence. Activist and scholar Gwenola Ricordeau argues that this carceral approach does not make women safer: it harms women, including victims of violence, and in particular people of color, poor people, and LGBTQ people. In this scintillating, comprehensive study, Ricordeau draws from two decades as an abolitionist activist and scholar to describe how the criminal justice system hurts women. Considering the position of criminalized women, women with criminalized relatives, and survivors of violence, Ricordeau charts a new path to emancipation without incarceration. Translated from the French by Tom Roberge and Emma Ramadan, with Anne Selelr.