That's what law school allowed me to have - was time to actually read abolitionist literature - you know, read "Abolition Democracy" by Angela Davis,… - Derecka Purnell

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That's what law school allowed me to have - was time to actually read abolitionist literature - you know, read "Abolition Democracy" by Angela Davis, read her other book "Are Prisons Obsolete?" - the more time I had to study, you know, works from, like, Naomi Murakawa. I mean, I just had so much time to start learning the history of police, the function of police, how this word crime is a social construct, how there's so much sexual violence in this world - in this country, in particular - and it's not all reducible to what to do with a rapist - right? - because most people who commit sexual violence will never see a day in prison. And so police and prisons are currently inadequate responses to the sexual violence that we have right now. They're currently inadequate responses to the homicides that we have right now - right? - the harms of our nightmares. You look across the country - the police clearance rate for murders is something like 40-50%, which means that 40-50% of people accused of murdering someone are just arrested and charged - not even convicted, right?