Prison abolition isnât a solution to interpersonal harm. Itâs meant to be a solution for the violence of prisons.
Worth pointing out that the violence of prisons is also not a solution to interpersonal harm
Murder is though
Interpersonal harm is not a solution to interpersonal harm. I am immensely sympathetic to people who murder their abusers, but it is by no means an ideal outcome. Besides the deep trauma of killing another human being, how many abused people have complicated and difficult feelings towards their abusers? Abusers are, despite their cruelty, almost always romantic partners or family members. This is not to pardon them or make light of their actions, but to point out that many abuse victims struggle with the action of removing abusers from their lives due to these complex emotional ties, ties which the abuser often goes out of their way to strengthen and manipulate.Â
Who decides that murder is an appropriate response? The abuse victim who may very well blame themselves, and refuse to hold the abuser accountable? Their friends? Cutting off outside ties and emotional support is a common tacticâthey may not have any friends. Who commits the murder? Who buries the body? Who scrubs the blood out of the floorboards? Murder is not clean, is not easy, is not a quick ending that disappears a person forever and removes all their negative influences once and for all.
If the options for addressing interpersonal harm are âmurder or nothingâ, I would say that nine times out of ten the victim of harm would choose ânothingâ
Also, who decides who is an abuser? Weaponization of (counter-)abuse accusations is a common abuse tactic and many people are way too ready to believe the first narrative they hear. Esp if itâs weilded against those theyâre already primed to view as predatory (POC, trans women, etc)
How many lynchings have been justified by accusations of sexual assault?? Hmmm?



























