Lecture 15: Mass Incarceration Flashcards
how to measure incarceration rate
Incarceration rate = (total incarcerated population/total population) x 100,000
mass incarceration
A rate of imprisonment that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies of this type
four key areas of research on how incarceration rates impact society
- Recidivism and crime: how prison affects future criminal behaviour
- Social and economic outcomes: how incarceration impacts jobs, income, and stability
- Effects on families: how imprisonment affects loved ones
- Cultural effects: how incarceration influences trust in authorities
Two main theories explain how prison affects crime:
- prison is criminogenic (crime-causing)
- prison reduces crime
prison is criminogenic theory
prison may promote criminal behaviours, connect inmates to criminal networks, and stigmatize ex-inmates, making it harder to find legal opportunities
prison reduces crime theory
Prison reduces crime through deterrence and incapacitation
deterrence
scaring people away from crime
two types of deterrence
general & specific deterrence
general deterrence
discouraging the public from crime due to fear of punishment
specific deterrence
preventing former inmates from reoffending
incapacitation
preventing crime by keeping offenders locked up
conflict theory on race and crime
- One of the most widely used frameworks for explaining race and crime
- Rooted in the works of the Germans: Karl Marx, Max Weber (and Georg Simmel)
conflict theory key ideas
- Focuses on power struggles between individuals and groups
- Examines how laws and punishments are applied unequally
- Investigates whether law enforcement and sentencing are discriminatory
- Central concern: how the White power structure administers justice
- Also considers social class and gender as factors in legal inequality
W.E.B. Du Bois
- William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868–1963) was a sociologist, historian, and civil rights activist
- One of the first scholars to study race and crime systematically
- First African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard University
- A founder of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
W.E.B. Du Bois’ key contributions
- Challenged the idea that racial disparities in crime were due to biological inferiority (which has shaped legal ideology and criminology)
- Emphasized the impact of systemic racism, economic inequality, and social structures on crime
- Used empirical research and statistical analysis to counter racist narratives
DuBois’ connection to conflict theory
- His work aligns with conflict theory, highlighting how the legal system upholds White supremacy
- Argued that racial discrimination in law enforcement and the courts led to higher incarceration rates for Black Americans
- Focused on economic oppression and segregation as root causes of crime
Du Bois as an early observer of race and crime
- Studied under Max Weber and applied conflict theory to race and crime
- One of the first scholars to analyze racial disparities in the Criminal Justice system
Du Bois and the convict-lease system
- Published a 1901 article exposing the system’s role in racial oppression
- After the 13th Amendment ended slavery, states leased prisoners to private landowners
- Allowed Southern white elites to continue exploiting Black labour
The role of the “Black Codes”
- States enacted racially targeted laws to criminalize Black people
- Purpose: reintroduced forced labour through imprisonment
- Maintained the power and privilege of Southern white landowners
Du Bois’ significance
- One of the earliest works to use conflict analysis to study crime and race
- Exposed how the legal system was weaponized to uphold racial inequality
Franz Fanon
- Born in 1925 in Martinique, a French colony
- Psychiatrist, philosopher, and anti-colonial theorist
- Best known for his works Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
- Analyzed the psychological and structural effects of racism, colonialism, and violence
Fanon and conflict theory
- Argued that colonialism creates a system of oppression where racial and class hierarchies are enforced through violence and legal control
- Saw the criminalization of colonized people as a way to maintain colonial power
- Connected mental health, identity, and resistance to the legal and political structures of colonial rule
Fanon on crime and colonial oppression
- Colonial legal systems framed Black and Indigenous resistance as criminal
- Police and prisons were tools to suppress rebellion and maintain control
- Racialized people were often forced into economic and social conditions that increased crime, which was then used to justify further oppression
Fanon’s relevance to race and crime
- Fanon’s work helps explain racial profiling, mass incarceration, and police brutality today
- Shows how law and punishment are used to maintain racial and economic inequality
- Highlights how resistance is criminalized in oppressive systems
Michelle Alexander’s core argument
- Mass incarceration is the latest form of a long-standing racial caste system in the U.S.
- Earlier versions of this system include slavery and Jim Crow laws
What is a caste system?
- A rigid form of social stratification where a person’s place in society is hereditarily transmitted
- More permanent than social class—difficult or impossible to escape
- Often includes endogamy (marriage within the same social group) and inheritance of social roles, occupations, and wealth
- Maintained through social norms and legal systems
- Benefits those at the top of the hierarchy, reinforcing political and economic power
Slavery as a first racial caste system
- Racialized hierarchy—enslavement was based on Blackness
- Even free Black individuals faced legal suspicion (often assumed to be escaped slaves)
- Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Ruled that Black people could not be U.S. citizens, reinforcing racial exclusion
Who was Dred Scott?
- Dred Scott was an enslaved man who lived in Missouri (a slave state)
- His owner took him to Illinois and Wisconsin, where slavery was illegal
- Scott argued that because he had lived in free territory, he should be a free man
What was the Supreme Court’s decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott in a 7-2 decision
Two major rulings from Dred Scott v. Sandford
- Black people (enslaved or free) were not U.S. citizens. This meant they had no legal rights and could not sue in court
- Congress could not ban slavery in new territories. This made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, allowing slavery to spread
the 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 (157 years ago) ensuring that:
- Anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen (overruling Dred Scott)
- All citizens must receive equal protection under the law
- States cannot deny people their rights
Impact of the 14th Amendment
- Gave Black Americans full citizenship
- Forced states to follow federal laws on civil rights
- Became the basis for many later civil rights cases, including fights against segregation (Brown v. Board of Education)
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
- Homer Plessy, who was part Black, was arrested for sitting in a “Whites-only” train car in Louisiana
- He argued that segregation violated the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law
- The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court
What was the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)?
- Ruled 7-1 in favor of segregation
- Stated that separate facilities for Black and White people were legal as long as they were “equal”
- This decision legalized racial segregation across the U.S
Brown v. Board of Education
- A Supreme Court case that ended racial segregation in public schools
- It ruled that separating Black and white students was unconstitutional
why was Brown v. Board of Education filed?
- Linda Brown, a Black student in Topeka, Kansas, had to travel far to a segregated Black school
- Her family wanted her to attend a closer White school but was denied because of segregation laws
- Her case was combined with others and taken to the Supreme Court
What was the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education?
- The Court ruled 9-0 that racial segregation in schools violated the 14th Amendment
- It overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which had allowed “separate but equal” facilities
- The ruling stated that separate schools are “inherently unequal” and harmful to Black children
segregation today
Though de jure segregation is now a thing of the past, de facto segregation continues to exist.
De jure segregation
legally enforced segregation
de facto segregation
segregation that happens in practice, even without laws requiring it
redlining
denying loans or insurance to people based on their neighbourhood, reinforcing racial and economic segregation
real estate discrimination in the U.S.
Agents refused to show homes to POC, exposed by MLK’s Chicago Freedom Movement (1965-67)
Fair Housing Act (1968)
Outlawed housing discrimination, but redlining continues in different forms
effects of redlining
- Segregated, underfunded neighbourhoods with fewer public resources
- Poorer schools due to reliance on local property taxes (de facto school segregation)
- Fewer job opportunities due to lack of education, white flight, and businesses relocating
- Limited public transportation, restricting access to work and resources
- Political disenfranchisement, reducing community influence in policymaking
beginning of the war on drugs (Nixon)
- “Law and order” policies target anti-war left and civil rights movements
- Hippies were linked to weed, and Black people were linked to heroin, reinforcing racial stereotypes
- Opium was linked to the Chinese community because of cultural components but became weaponized due to their economic growth
the media’s role in the criminalization of Black bodies
News and popular culture portray young Black men as criminals, gangsters, and drug dealers
Reagan’s expansion of the War on Drugs
Police departments incentivized to crack down on drugs through grants, property seizures, and military equipment
Poor Black neighbourhoods as the primary targets of the War on Drugs
- Lack of political power means little resistance to aggressive policing
- Open-air drug markets make arrests easier, helping police meet quotas
Crack cocaine as the new focus of the War on Drugs
- Crack is more common in Black communities, leading to harsher sentencing laws
- Black Americans were doubly targeted, reinforcing mass incarceration
McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)
- Warren McCleskey, a Black man, was sentenced to death in Georgia for killing a White police officer during a robbery
- He challenged his sentence, arguing that racial bias influenced who received the death penalty
- His lawyers presented a statistical study (Baldus Study) showing that:
1. Defendants charged with killing White victims were 4.3 times more likely to get the death penalty than those who killed Black victims
2. Black defendants who killed White victims had the highest chance of being sentenced to death
what was the Supreme Court’s decision in McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)?
- The Court rejected McCleskey’s claim and upheld his death sentence (5-4)
- Statistical evidence of racial bias was not enough to prove discrimination in an individual case
- This has a disparate impact on legal reasoning, mainly in civil cases
Baton v. Kentucky (1985)
- James Batson, a Black man, was on trial for burglary in Kentucky
- During jury selection, the prosecutor removed all Black jurors, leaving an all-White jury
- Batson’s lawyer argued that this violated his 6th Amendment right to an impartial jury and 14th Amendment right to equal protection
What was the Supreme Court’s decision in Baton v. Kentucky (1985)?
- The Court ruled that removing jurors based on race is unconstitutional
- Established the “Batson Challenge”, a legal process to prevent racial discrimination in jury selection
The Batson Challenge
- Step 1: The defendant must show evidence that jurors were removed based on race
- Step 2: The prosecutor must give a “race-neutral” reason for removing the jurors
- Step 3: The judge decides if the explanation is valid or if racial discrimination occurred
The Mettray Penal Colony
- Mettray was a hybrid institution: school + prison + army + church + factory.
- Introduced the idea of disciplinary power—power exercised by surveillance, normalization, and correction
- Focus: delinquent boys
purpose of the Mettray Penal Colony
- Not about violence, but about shaping individuals into “docile bodies”
- Disciplinary power: Subtle, internalized control over the body and soul
- Technicians of behaviour: Staff were “engineers of conduct” who monitored, trained, and documented
- Permanent observation: Echoes the Panopticon; inmates were constantly watched and judged
key elements of The Mettray Penal Colony
- Punishment (like prison cells),
- Education (lessons and moral instruction),
- Work (agricultural labor and trades),
- Surveillance (constant observation),
- Military discipline (hierarchical structure, daily drills),
- Religious guidance (“God sees you” written on the cell walls)
from prison to society
- Foucault says modern society is not ruled from a central power (like a king), but from a network of institutions (school, hospital, workplace, welfare, etc.).
- These institutions make up what he calls the carceral archipelago—a scattered but connected network of control.
- The prison is not isolated; it’s part of a continuum.
- Discipline exists outside prison—in classrooms, clinics, welfare offices.
- The goal is not just to punish, but to normalize: to create people who self-regulate.
delinquency and the paradox of reform
- The prison doesn’t rehabilitate—it produces repeat offenders
- Delinquency is manufactured through constant surveillance and exclusion
- Even alternatives to prison (probation, social workers, therapists) often replicate disciplinary logic
the paradox of reform
the system claims to help, but it also tags and tracks people throughout their lives
normalization
The power to define what is “normal” and punish what is “abnormal”
knowledge and power in the context of the paradox of reform
Experts (doctors, psychologists, and criminologists) help define and enforce norms
