Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BOOK REVIEW BY PHILLIP TAYLOR MBE
FOR ABOLITION: Essays on Prisons and Socialist Ethics
By David Scott
ISBN 978 1 90997 682 5
WATERSIDE PRESS
Putting justice into words
watersidepress.co.uk
THE INCONCLUSIVE POLITICS OF PENAL ABOLITION- HOW LONG CAN WE CONTINUE WITH THE PRESENT NONSENSICAL SYSTEM!
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister,” and Mediator
David Scott’s new book entitled “For Abolition” from Waterside Press “draws upon the socialist ethics of dignity, empathy, freedom and paradigm of life to systematically critique imprisonment as a state institution characterized by ‘social death’”. This may not be a book for all tastes because it sets out its party-political stall quickly and it may put some readers off. However, it remains a most useful contribution to prison policy which urgently requires reform for the 21st century so do read it as part of your criminology syllabus.
Stepping back a few centuries, according to the controversial (at the time) writer Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) ‘Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.’ Swift puts it well for connecting the politics of abolition to wider emancipatory struggles for liberation and social justice are still the firm goals, especially those at the sharp end of the criminal justice process.
David Scott’s book argues that penal abolitionism should be understood as “an important public critical pedagogy” and a “philosophy of hope” that can help to “reinvigorate democracy and set society on a pathway towards living in a world without prisons.” Readers going through this careful text may casually wonder whether there will ever be a politician who might take this pathway! Swift was years ahead of his time, anyway.
A systematic critique of imprisonment which challenges established views and myths is what Waterside Press give, putting justice into words as they do so well. Scott is successful with his examination of why there still exists so much political and other misguided support for a long failing institution. What I, as a non-socialist, find of relevance is that the debate, through essays such as these, is beginning to climb the political agenda again, probably because of money and not the philosophy behind imprisonment.
We have such a long way to go although the commentaries in “For Abolition” are the start of an innovative approach. At least, I hope so, so do not be put off with words like “socialist” and “ethics” because the subject-matter is much wider than mere socialism because it affects everyone!
The date of publication of this new paperback edition from Waterside Press is 30th November 2020.
BOOK REVIEW BY PHILLIP TAYLOR MBE
FOR ABOLITION: Essays on Prisons and Socialist Ethics
By David Scott
ISBN 978 1 90997 682 5
WATERSIDE PRESS
Putting justice into words
watersidepress.co.uk
THE INCONCLUSIVE POLITICS OF PENAL ABOLITION- HOW LONG CAN WE CONTINUE WITH THE PRESENT NONSENSICAL SYSTEM!
An appreciation by Elizabeth Robson Taylor MA of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister,” and Mediator
David Scott’s new book entitled “For Abolition” from Waterside Press “draws upon the socialist ethics of dignity, empathy, freedom and paradigm of life to systematically critique imprisonment as a state institution characterized by ‘social death’”. This may not be a book for all tastes because it sets out its party-political stall quickly and it may put some readers off. However, it remains a most useful contribution to prison policy which urgently requires reform for the 21st century so do read it as part of your criminology syllabus.
Stepping back a few centuries, according to the controversial (at the time) writer Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) ‘Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.’ Swift puts it well for connecting the politics of abolition to wider emancipatory struggles for liberation and social justice are still the firm goals, especially those at the sharp end of the criminal justice process.
David Scott’s book argues that penal abolitionism should be understood as “an important public critical pedagogy” and a “philosophy of hope” that can help to “reinvigorate democracy and set society on a pathway towards living in a world without prisons.” Readers going through this careful text may casually wonder whether there will ever be a politician who might take this pathway! Swift was years ahead of his time, anyway.
A systematic critique of imprisonment which challenges established views and myths is what Waterside Press give, putting justice into words as they do so well. Scott is successful with his examination of why there still exists so much political and other misguided support for a long failing institution. What I, as a non-socialist, find of relevance is that the debate, through essays such as these, is beginning to climb the political agenda again, probably because of money and not the philosophy behind imprisonment.
We have such a long way to go although the commentaries in “For Abolition” are the start of an innovative approach. At least, I hope so, so do not be put off with words like “socialist” and “ethics” because the subject-matter is much wider than mere socialism because it affects everyone!
The date of publication of this new paperback edition from Waterside Press is 30th November 2020.
