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Abstract

This work compares law enforcement and the child welfare or “family policing” system side-by-side, examining how both are agents of policing. Drawing heavily from a body of literature about the perils of law enforcement and the possibilities of police abolition, it explores how contemporary police abolitionists’ arguments can be applied to the family policing system. This work compares these policing systems’ histories, targets, functions, and impacts on violence survivors, suggesting that these similarities are evidence of policing’s irredeemability, and raising questions about new ways of envisioning safety.

Keywords

radical or progressive social work modes of practice policy criminal justice criminal justice/forensic social work subjects of practice law discrimination multicultural issues and diversity vulnerable/marginalized populations

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Uprooting Polic ing : What Police Abolitionists Teach Us About Family Policing

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