Abolish Prisons, Expand Police?: Pre-Service Teachers and the Prison-Industrial Complex

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 2:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Abolitionist Pedagogies for Transforming Education and Society

Abstract

Conversations on the reach and purpose of police and prisons have been reignited in the United States in recent years but this topic remains underdeveloped within the field of education. In this qualitative research study, elementary pre-service teachers shared their impressions of police and prisons and described how they would (or would not) teach about these interconnected institutions. Findings suggest that while participants believe policing and prisons are harmful to Black Americans and immigrants, police presence in urban neighborhoods should nevertheless be increased in urban neighborhoods so as to discourage and penalize homelessness. Implications of this research and calls for an anti-capitalist abolitionist framework for education are discussed.

Author

• Alexandria Hollett, California State University - Northridge