Abolitionist Social Work Praxis

Exploring Feminist Perspectives on Carcerality and Justice

Abstract

This article presents a critical literature review of abolitionist and anti-carceral feminist scholarship, with a focus on its relevance to social work theory, practice, and education. Drawing on a postcolonial feminist framework, the review interrogates how carceral logics shape dominant responses to domestic and family violence, particularly in settler-colonial contexts such as Australia. It explores critiques of carceral feminism, the profession’s historical complicity in systems of criminalisation and surveillance, and the ideological distinctions between anti-carceral and abolitionist perspectives. Central to this review is a consideration of transformative justice as a community-led, decolonising framework that resists punitive state responses and reimagines justice through healing, accountability, and collective care. 

While the literature offers rich theoretical insights, it remains largely American and conceptual in scope. An emergent body of Australian scholarship highlights the interconnections between colonialism and carcerality, particularly the disproportionate incarceration of First Nations women and the ongoing removal of First Nations children. However, significant gaps remain, including limited empirical applications of transformative justice and the absence of lived experience perspectives. This review argues that abolitionist social work provides critical tools for confronting the contradictions of a profession which is both committed to social justice and deeply entangled in state violence. It calls for future research that centres First Nations voices and community-led strategies to address intersecting forms of violence, positioning abolitionist praxis as central for reimagining justice in ways that are emancipatory and transformative.