Over two decades, extensive research and heated debate have addressed tensions between carceral and abolitionist responses to gendered violence within feminism. Disagreements arise from the existing multiplicity of feminist approaches and divergent socio-economic and political contexts in which such violence occurs. At the same time, different conceptions of the state and community also impact on feminist organizing around these issues in particular contexts. This article analyses the tensions between so-called carceral feminism and abolitionist feminism in the context of Albania and Kosovo, two countries not only heavily impacted by domestic and sexualized violence and feminicide but also with a significantly rising feminist mobilization. Using the photo-elicitation method, we interviewed feminist activists and academics regarding the ways they interpret gendered violence, the strategies and interventions they deem most relevant in addressing it, and the contradictions and tensions that exist in their discourses and practices. Our aim is to offer a contextualized critique of carceral feminism, while illustrating the reasons and lack of alternatives that have impeded a transformative imagination towards abolitionist feminism.