Roundtable: Building Abolition Ideas and Practices in the Public University

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

As the Trump era begins to take hold on American public life, the Public University itself is under serious threat. Located in a “Sanctuary City” and Sanctuary University, three criminologists will discuss their perspectives on abolitionism having been embedded in the prison and education system, both in the USA and in Europe. Here, a comparative debate about the future of incarceration and abolition will be undertaken in addition to a discussion about how these changes should be discussed in class and in the form of activism on campus. The three criminologists are Dr. Liam Leonard, CSULA and Founding Editor of the CRIMSOC Series, Dr. Robert Weide, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at CSULA and Kevin Gonzalez, a former prisoner who won the California Sociology Association’s “Outstanding Undergraduate of the Year” and the current convener of CSULA’s program for formerly incarcerated students.

Sub Unit

• Area XIII: Roundtable Sessions

Division of Special Interest

• Divisions of Special Interest / Division on Corrections & Sentencing

Chair

• Michael J. Coyle, California State University, Chico

Discussants

• Kevin Michael Gonzalez, California State University, Los Angeles

• Liam Leonard, California State University LA

• Robert Donald Weide, California State University, Los Angeles