“We Will Leave the Lights on for You”: Political Education and the Push for a Revival of Radical Criminology From a Formerly Incarcerated Chicano Activist-Scholar

Abstract

This article addresses the development of political education and push for a return to radical criminology from a formerly incarcerated Chicano activist-scholar. I explore the biography of a formerly incarcerated Chicano as he navigates through educational institutions, from public school to the university level and, finally, at the PhD level. In the conclusion, I highlight the importance for a push in the direction of prison abolition, followed by the revival of radical criminology with my work on barrio criminology. Given my experience of both incarceration and academia, I advocate for an abolition of all prisons, abolition of the criminal [in]justice system, and an abolition of global capitalism, which are inextricably linked to one another.