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Socialism

Contradictions of Socialist Prison Abolitionism

Many "democratic socialists" want to abolish prisons. But this is in conflict with their objective of making many more activities illegal.

Ilya Somin | 7.20.2026 6:14 PM

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"Democratic socialists" are a growing movement on the political left. And many of them are also prison abolitionists. But there is a deep contradiction between their socialism and their abolitionism. Socialism requires making numerous economic activities illegal, and those laws have to be enforced by some system of punishment. As the history of actual socialist states shows, serious attempts to implement socialism lead to vastly greater incarceration (and other punishment), not less. There are a number of possible ways to try to escape this contradiction. But none of them work. The tension is relevant not only to full prison abolition, but also to any plan to significantly reduce incarceration and punishment without eliminating it completely.

What is Socialism?

Before going into detail, it is worth emphasizing that "socialism" here means government control of all or most of the economy, not simply an increase in welfare spending or a marginal increase in certain discrete types of regulation. This is isn't just my idiosyncratic definition. It's what actual leading socialists say they want. For example, the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), America's most prominent socialist organization, states that they seek to establish a system under which "[f]ood, education, energy, medicine, and transportation aren't for-profit businesses; they are common goods." That requires a complete government takeover of these massive parts of the economy. The DSA and other socialists also seek to massively extend government control even over those parts of the economy that they might not socialize outright. For example, they advocate extensive rent control, a massive increase in employment regulation, and so on. Elsewhere, I have described how - in combination - these demands would amount to socialization of the vast bulk of the economy. It is not simply a matter of making the US more like Denmark or Sweden, countries with large welfare states, but also generally market-based economies (in some respects more free market than the US).

Socialist prison abolition isn't just a strawman either. For example, the DSA has an "Abolition Working Group," which, among other things, advocates "Freedom for all incarcerated people." Prominent socialist candidates for political office also have a history of advocating prison abolition.

The Contradiction

There is a blatant but generally ignored contradiction between socialism and prison abolitionism. Socialism requires making a wide range of economic transactions illegal, and those laws have to be enforced by some system of punishment. If, like the DSA, you want to ensure that "[f]ood, education, energy, medicine, and transportation aren't for-profit businesses," but instead make them "common goods," you will have to make it illegal to provide those goods and services for profit, and punish people who violate the relevant laws.

Historically, attempts to do this created vast black markets, especially since government control of these and other industries routinely resulted in shortages and low quality, caused by knowledge problems and poor incentives. I was born in the Soviet Union. Almost all my adult relatives and their friends acquaintances were involved in illegal black........

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