ABOUT
Organized by a formerly incarcerated law student, formerly incarcerated scholar, and the Journal of Race and Economic Justice at UC Law San Francisco. This initiative creates a shared space that bridges academia with on-the-ground experience. The goal is to bring together scholars, students, educators, organizers, practitioners, advocates, and people systemically targeted by the criminal legal system to exchange ideas, share strategies, and advance abolitionist thought and practice. Together, participants explore how abolition can be taught, practiced, and sustained across communities and institutions—centering voices and experiences that have long been excluded from traditional academic and conversations.
ORGANIZED BY
Language of the Symposium
The conversation language for the symposium is: English
Accessibility Information
We aim to practice disability justice and access as collective responsibility, not afterthought.
Please contact us for specific accommodation needs at abolitionsf@gmail.com
Registration Details
Click on the "REGISTER" button above to register.
Non-speakers can pre-register. The event is free but spots are limited.
Location
San Francisco
Who Should Submit a Proposal
1
Legal & Academic
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Scholars, students, and educators exploring abolition in law, social sciences, humanities, or community-based education
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Legal practitioners resisting carceral systems from within or outside traditional institutions
2
Community & Grassroots
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Organizers, mutual aid networks, and justice workers building alternatives to police, prisons, and punishment
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Youth leaders, neighborhood groups, and survivor collectives practicing transformative justice
3
System-Impacted Voices
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Formerly incarcerated people, survivors of state violence, and anyone with lived experience in carceral systems
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Immigrants, refugees, and those resisting deportation and surveillance
4
Artists & Cultural Workers
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Writers, visual artists, performers, and cultural workers using art to expose harm and envision freedom
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Creators challenging binaries like victim/offender, citizen/alien, legal/illegal
5
Healers & Spiritual Leaders
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Practitioners of transformative justice, community accountability, or trauma-informed care
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Faith-based or ancestral justice workers reclaiming non-carceral pathways to healing
6
Global & Intersectional Thinkers
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Abolitionists confronting state violence, militarism, or imperialism
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People bridging abolition with movements for racial, gender, disability, environmental, and economic justice
Topics of Proposals We Welcome
We invite proposals from organizers, artists, students, scholars, community members, and anyone working toward abolition in any form. You do not need to have academic credentials to participate — your lived experience, creativity, and critical thinking are enough.
Topics can discuss:
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Mass Incarceration and Its Impact
Work that centers people affected by jails, prisons, policing, or surveillance — including incarcerated individuals, loved ones, and communities organizing for freedom.
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Victims and Survivors of Harm
Abolitionist approaches to healing, safety, and accountability that go beyond punishment especially those led by survivors of violence or state harm.
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Challenging “Victim/Offender” Binaries
Projects that explore how people can be both harmed and cause harm, and that seek justice through transformative or restorative practices rather than punishment.
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Abolishing Other Carceral Systems
Proposals that target other systems of control, such as ICE, foster care, psychiatric institutions, or punitive schools and the beliefs (like racism, white feminism, ableism, or colonialism) that uphold them.
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Work That Doesn't Fit a Box
If your work imagines new ways of living, healing, or creating safety beyond policing and prisons, we want to hear from you — even if it doesn't fit the categories above.
We welcome work that explores abolition as practice, vision, theory, history, imagination, or daily life.
Below are a few formats you can propose, but anything is welcomed!
