Critical Resistance is an organisation and movement in the USA that works to dismantle the prison-industrial-complex (PIC) system that exists there. The organisation sees the existing system as a response to complex social problems such as homelessness, immigration and gender non-conformity. It also stems from the legacy of the movement to abolish slavery in the 19th century. Since 1998, Critical Resistance has been involved in various projects and campaigns to prevent the construction of more prisons and to strengthen the rights of imprisoned people. Within the organisation, most of the work is done on a voluntary basis. Commitments include stopping the construction of more prisons in California, monitoring and protesting police violence, promoting education in prisons and generally eliminating social, economic problems that precede the prison system.

Dismantle and abolish the prison system in the USA. Preventing further prisons. Strengthening the rights and education of incarcerated people. Creating a social system that does not rely on incarceration and control. Work to resolve social, economic and political problems that predate the system.

The organisation organises conferences to promote discussion and exchange between different actors. At the same time, the conferences aim to disseminate information and, in the long term, abolish prisons locally, nationally and globally. INCITE! (women's anti-violence group) and Critical Resistance jointly published a statement on gender-based violence and its connection to the PIC in 2001. The statement criticises the lack of attention to violence against women and the experiences of survivors of domestic violence and other gender-based crimes. Social movements should not be isolated but made up of intersectional coalitions.

Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson, Gilmore Rose Braz a.o.