Episode 25 - Charleston Rebellion 2020: Abolishing The Carceral State - a podcast by Charleston DSA

In this episode, we're featuring local activists Candace Livingston, Julie Chea and Empress talking about police/prison abolition and building a better world using the principles of investing in our communities, as well as fully understanding the power of transformative justice.

Through Carolina Youth Action Project, they’ve been working on a campaign called Safer Schools Without SROs, which demands the removal of all SROs in Charleston County schools and in every public school across South Carolina. CYAP is an alliance of unstoppable girls, trans youth, and gender nonconforming youth who believe that students deserve to feel safe, supported, and cared for rather than fearful of harassment or arrest by SROs.

CYAP also emphasizes that issues like sex education should go beyond abstinence-only curriculum, and reject South Carolina’s outdated and harmful Comprehensive Health Education Program.



Among the topics covered: the problems with the “8 Can’t Wait” plan, what practicing transformative justice locally looks like, supporting incarcerated people, negative effects of SROs, and how to get involved with the Carolina Youth Action Project.



Further reading can be found below:



Carolina Youth Action Project: https://www.scyouthaction.org/



CYAP campaign work: https://www.scyouthaction.org/campaign-work



CYAP Petition to remove police from Charleston County schools: https://www.change.org/p/charleston-county-school-board-copsoutofccsd-remove-police-from-charleston-county-schools

Candace's commentary in the Post & Courier: Why We Need To Abolish Police In Our Schools: https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/commentary-why-we-need-to-abolish-police-in-our-schools/article_dc7a3dac-ba54-11ea-9906-df7b3c3eb47a.html



Further reading about the Prison Industrial Project: http://criticalresistance.org/

Pew Research Center: Most violent and property crimes in the U.S. go unsolved: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/01/most-violent-and-property-crimes-in-the-u-s-go-unsolved/

Equal Justice Initiative: Increased incarceration does not reduce crime: https://eji.org/news/study-finds-increased-incarceration-does-not-reduce-crime/

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