Book excerpt: Beyond Criminal Courts is a collection of resources created for organizers, advocates and community members working together to build the organizing-power we need to defund, divest, and ultimately to dismantle criminal courts for good. Beyond Criminal Courts invites readers to learn about criminal court processes and to deepen an abolitionist analysis and critique of criminal courts. It also offers a vision for alternative ways of investigating, evaluating and adjudicating harm, and presents ideas for organizing to build power to ultimately defund and dismantle criminal courts.