How does this issue impact YOU and the people you care about?
STEP 1: 5 MINUTES
Get Curious: Pick A Story
Which stories and videos make you interested in learning more about this issue?
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Let's explore
Prison Abolition
Abolition – Getting rid of rules that hurt people.
Incarcerated - To be locked in prison.
Juvenile Detention - Prison for children.
Prison Industrial Complex - A set of businesses and government agencies designed to shift money to people who run prisons.
Punitive Justice – Punishing people who do harm so others will be afraid to copy them
Restorative Justice – Listening to people who have been harmed, those who harmed them, and anyone else affected – and taking action to help everyone feel safe again.
School to Prison Pipeline - School rules and grownup responses targeting kids with harsh punishment for regular kid behavior, leading to arrest and incarceration instead of giving kids the support they need. This leads to kids getting pushed out of schools and into prisons and mostly impacts Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and kids with disabilities.
Transformative Justice – Restorative Justice, plus finding out what caused the conflict, and removing the causes so unfairness is unlikely to happen again.
SMASH THE KYRIARCHY
Why Act Now?
The United States still allows slavery, so long as the government believes you have committed a crime. While powerful people can pay to protect themselves, less powerful people are accused of crimes and put in jail in large part due to their race, disabilities, and lack of access to education - even kids. Once locked in prison, they can be forced to work without access to good food, education, and healthcare.
We can create kind and courageous alternatives to punishment and enslavement so when we make mistakes, we're given support to recover Instead of prisons, we can fund education, housing, healthcare, and food - helping kids and communities prevent harm in the future.
Prison Abolition Toolkit For Kids
For Kids Who Want To Make A Difference
Visit your local library
Kids Books About Restorative Justice
STEP 2: 10 MINUTES
Ask Questions
Talk about this topic with an adult who you trust to be honest with you..
Who...
Who is most likely to be put in prison? Why?
Who is harmed by the prison system?
Who benefits from the prison system?
What...
What are prisons for?
If we didn't have prisons - how could we respond to when someone breaks a law?
How could your community change if we used your ideas instead?
When...
When you make a mistake, what are a few ways grownups respond?
What kind of responses you learn from your mistake?
What kinds of grownup responses make you feel unheard, unsafe, and unable to avoid this mistake again?
Questions inspired by the Prison Industrial Complex Abolition Concentric Circles by CriticalResistance.org
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STEP 3: USE WHAT YOU HAVE
Get Creative
Flex your brain using what you've learned & discover what's within your control to change.
Pre-K Through Middle School
Write An Abolitionist Advocacy Letter
For pre-writers, emerging, and advanced writers, find letter templates to help kids raise their voice with elected officials.
Pre-K & Elementary
Create a Support Community
This companion activity book to Mariame Kaba's 'See You Soon' features coloring pages, community-mapping strategies, and more.
Elementary+
Brainstorm Alternatives To Punishment
Rania El Mugammar is a Sudanese artist, abolitionist, anti-oppression consultant and liberation educator. Download her guide for talking about transformative justice and abolition, along with a video workshop to guide your family through the process.
Older Elementary +
Create A Multimedia Advocacy Poster
The first step to working toward justice is creating a vision of the possibilities we're working toward. Performing Statistics shares a collage, photoshoot, and advocacy poster guide to help you envision a future without youth prisons.
Middle & High School
Explore A Youth-Led Interactive Experience
No Kids In Prison guides amplifies the voices of youth abolitionists impacted by the prison system. Find out who incarceration impacts, how your creativity can fuel a movement, and what you can do to end youth incarceration.
RAISING LUMINARIES
Raising Luminaries creates workshops, training, and educational resources for parents & caregivers igniting the next generation of kind & courageous leaders.
ABOUT | MISSION | FINANCIALS | ACCOUNTABILITY
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
STAY IN TOUCH
Get free weekly email notifications with toolkits, guides & little delights
FREE STUFF
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
SHOP
Posts may contain affiliate links and sponsorships, which allow me to earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
PARTNERS IN CAHOOTS
TOPICS
CONTACT
RECIPROCATE
Collaborate with Raising Luminaries on an issue important to you.
You’re welcome to share & boost this toolkit, with attribution to Raising Luminaries.
IT'S STILL OKAY TO LAUGH
Hard conversations with humor & joy
Every month the Luminary Braintrust tackles a new member challenge to make talking about social justice easier in real life.
STEP 4: ASSESS YOUR CAPACITY
Step Into Your Power: Take Action
Whether it's time, money, or our voice - we all have something to contribute.
if you have $15
Donate Books to Kids In Prison
Liberation Library provides books to youth in prison to encourage imagination, self-determination and connection to outside worlds of their choosing.
We believe access to books is a right, not a privilege. We believe books and relationships empower young people to change the criminal legal system.
if you have 1 minute
Tell Congress: Pass the Ending Pushout Act
The Ending PUSHOUT Act (H.R. 2690) aims to eliminate suspensions and expulsions over minor infractions like tardiness and absenteeism or violations of grooming and appearance policies that consistently discriminate against students of color.
DIG DEEPER
Bonus Resources
Share what worked for your family (and what didn't).
Add the resources you suggest in the comments below to help families like yours.
Reading Guide
Validating Stories For Kids With Incarcerated Parents
Find more picture books for kids facing family separation due to incarceration, along with tips on harmful stereotypes and tropes to watch out for.
via Raising Luminaries
Video Collection
Exploring the School To Prison Pipeline
Learn more about the intersection of colonization, capitalism, racism, classism, ableism, and transphobia driving the mass incarceration of targeted youth - and the better alternatives we can choose instead.
via Raising Luminaries
Grownup Workshops
Building Your Abolitionist Toolbox
Learn about transformative and restorative justice alternatives to punishment and incarceration in this comprehensive collection of free video workshops.
Via Project Nia
Family Action Toolkit
Ending Police Brutality
Discovery kid-friendly art, poetry, and advocacy tools to end police brutality.
via Raising Luminaries
