Abigail Barefoot

Abigail Barefoot is an Assistant Professor of Instruction at the Center for Legal Studies, Northwestern University. She holds a Ph.D. in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Kansas.

Her research critically examines justice frameworks through prison abolition and transformative justice lenses, with a focus on sexual violence accountability. Key interests include:

• LGBTQ studies and intersectional social movements
• Non-punitive community safety models
• Ethnographic analysis of carceral systems

Her publications analyze feminist critiques of state power and gender policing, spanning disciplines like legal theory, feminist geography, and criminal justice reform. Research has been supported by grants including the National Science Foundation.