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Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition

This chapter examines the anarchist case for abolition by analysing the Peter Kropotkin’s In French and Russian Prisons (1887), perhaps the most influential historical critique. Using themes of environment, culture and social relationships, I discuss his account, explain his scepticism about reform...

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Main Author: Ruth Kinna
Format: Default Book chapter
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/24937050.v1
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author Ruth Kinna
author_facet Ruth Kinna
author_sort Ruth Kinna (1252950)
collection Figshare
description This chapter examines the anarchist case for abolition by analysing the Peter Kropotkin’s In French and Russian Prisons (1887), perhaps the most influential historical critique. Using themes of environment, culture and social relationships, I discuss his account, explain his scepticism about reform and explain why he concluded that the only sensible answer to the question ‘are prisons necessary?’ was ‘no’. The final section follows the trajectory of two lines of Kropotkin’s abolitionist thesis in anarchist thought. The first ‘environmental’ strand focuses on the systemic injustices that incentivise wrongdoing and the second ‘ethical’ thread emphasises the faultiness of the concept of crime. The argument is that both underwrite the anarchist case for prison abolition.
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institution Loughborough University
publishDate 2025
record_format Figshare
spelling rr-article-249370502025-01-01T00:00:00Z Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition Ruth Kinna (1252950) Kropotkin Prison abolition Anarchism Responsibility This chapter examines the anarchist case for abolition by analysing the Peter Kropotkin’s In French and Russian Prisons (1887), perhaps the most influential historical critique. Using themes of environment, culture and social relationships, I discuss his account, explain his scepticism about reform and explain why he concluded that the only sensible answer to the question ‘are prisons necessary?’ was ‘no’. The final section follows the trajectory of two lines of Kropotkin’s abolitionist thesis in anarchist thought. The first ‘environmental’ strand focuses on the systemic injustices that incentivise wrongdoing and the second ‘ethical’ thread emphasises the faultiness of the concept of crime. The argument is that both underwrite the anarchist case for prison abolition.<p></p> 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Text Chapter 2134/24937050.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/chapter/Kropotkin_and_the_anarchist_case_for_penal_abolition/24937050 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
spellingShingle Kropotkin
Prison abolition
Anarchism
Responsibility
Ruth Kinna
Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition
title Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition
title_full Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition
title_fullStr Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition
title_full_unstemmed Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition
title_short Kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition
title_sort kropotkin and the anarchist case for penal abolition
topic Kropotkin
Prison abolition
Anarchism
Responsibility
url https://hdl.handle.net/2134/24937050.v1