Critical Resistance (CR) is a U.S. based organization with the stated goal of abolishing the prison-industrial complex (PIC). Despite claims of being an internationalist organization, CR has not led any abolitionist campaigns outside of the USA, though individual members have built relationships abroad (mostly in the West).

Critical Resistance has worked towards abolition of the PIC since its first conference in 1998. It considers the prison-industrial complex to be a response to societal issues including but not limited to homelessness, immigration, and gender-based violence. Since 1998 it has taken part in numerous campaigns and projects to close prisons, stop new prisons from being built, address the root cause of interpersonal harm, and promote restorative practices.

Organization

Critical Resistance was founded by Rose Braz, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Angela Davis, and several others in 1997. The organization is primarily volunteer member-based, with a small number of paid staff members based in Oakland.

Each chapter determines its own work independently. Projects included:

  • Contributing to stopping California's prison building boom
  • Copwatching
  • Coalition-building and participation in the Community in Unity Coalition to stop construction of a 2,000-bed jail in the South Bronx.
  • Facilitating education within prisons and the creation of political media by, for, and with prisoners and former prisoners
  • Political education
  • Building a mass movement for creating genuine safety that does not rely on incarceration and control to address social, economic and political problems

Mission

Critical Resistance takes an abolitionist stance against the prison industrial complex which draws from the legacy of the slavery abolition movement in the 1800s. CR abolitionists view the current prison system as not "broken" as many reformists do, but as working effectively at what they say is its true purpose: to contain, control, and kill those people that the state sees as threats, including people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community. CR's goal is not to reform the prison system but to dismantle it completely, and create new ways of accountability and community care. Part of CR's mission statement asserts that it is the provision of basic necessities such as food, shelter, and care - not incarceration and punishment - that will make communities safe and secure. CR's mission statement supports abolishing the PIC, and promotes the idea that capitalism profits from incarceration, particularly the incarceration of people of color, women, and the poor. CR says it is crucial that the voices of diverse communities are heard, especially prisoners, in order to create a collective dialogue that can expose the reality of prisons. CR proposed that the costs of building a new jail system was too high and wasteful because there was already a lot of jail space in the county.

Beyond Attica: Close Prisons-Build Communities is an ongoing campaign that demands the closure of Attica Prison in New York state. According to CR's 2014 annual report, the purpose of The Abolitionist newspaper is to "share political analysis with imprisoned people, increase inside-outside communication, and augment organizing capacity inside prison walls".

Stop Urban Shield is a project initiated by the Oakland Chapter. Established in 2007, Urban Shield is a Bay Area expo that further trains law enforcement. There, law enforcement can undergo SWAT and tactical trainings in order respond to emergencies. Critical Resistance works to stop Urban Shield in Alameda County by means of protesting and defunding the expo through the county.

INCITE! partnership

The women's anti-violence group INCITE! and Critical Resistance partnered to create a statement on gender violence and its connection to the PIC. According to Kristian Williams, this partnership was formed because the lack of attention paid to violence within communities, and the ignoring of the experiences of survivors of domestic abuse and other gender crimes, caused tensions within the feminist movement which limited the overall success of Critical Resistance. The statement was published in 2001 and declares that the prison abolition movement must address gender violence and that social movements must not work in isolation, but rather in inter-sectional coalition. It states that both organizations share common struggles and common goals in working to deconstruct what both see as the sexism, racism, classism and homophobia that exists in the criminal justice system. The statement analyzes ways it finds women to be disproportionately targeted by the justice system and identifies strategies for combating these injustices. It mobilized hundreds of Bay Area youth to protest the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and the World Trade Organization meeting in Washington, DC.

  • 1998 - Several thousand high school students staged a walkout to demand "Schools Not Jails."
  • 2001 - Critical Resistance East Conference held in New York City.
  • 2001- In spring 2001, CR filed an environment lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections that has since prevented the construction of a 5160-bed prison in California's Central Valley.
  • 2005 - Helped bring about the end of California's prison building boom; featured in The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, and others. Launched amnesty campaign for people accused of looting post-Hurricane Katrina across the country.
  • 2008 - On September 26–28, 2008, Critical Resistance held its 10th Anniversary (CR10) conference in Oakland, CA. The 3-day conference focused on strategizing, collaborating, and organizing for abolishing the prisons. It included workshops, film showings, cultural art performances, strategy sessions, and meetings. A large number of youth, people of color and members of the LGBT community attended and participated in conference activities.
  • 2013 - CR worked with the No New SF Jail Coalition to stop the proposal for a $456 million jail project.