Becoming Abolitionists

This powerful work traces one activist's journey from police reform advocate to prison abolitionist, offering a deeply personal and intellectually rigorous exploration of why traditional approaches to criminal justice consistently fail. Purnell combines memoir with political analysis to demonstrate how policing evolved to protect property and maintain racial hierarchy rather than ensure public safety. The book systematically dismantles common reform arguments while presenting abolition as a practical framework for building communities where everyone's needs are met. Through vivid storytelling and sharp critique, it reveals how systems designed to control cannot be reformed into systems that care.

What makes this perspective compelling is how Purnell grounds abstract political theory in tangible examples of community-based safety practices already in operation. She doesn't shy away from difficult questions about how societies might address harm without relying on punishment and incarceration. Readers who feel disillusioned with incremental reforms will find both inspiration and concrete alternatives in these pages. The book ultimately positions abolition not as a distant ideal but as an ongoing practice of creating the world we want to live in, starting right where we are.