Mass Incarceration Exam II

Durkheim: Functionalism

Crime reflects our shared values and interests...it is also a normal and essential feature of society.

Crimes are acts that shock the collective conscience

Viewed society as a biological organism; characteristics that enable the organism to survive are functional, and will be perpetuated.

Functionalism

Crime is a 'normal' feature of society

--> Even a 'society of saints' will treat some acts as crime.

--> A crime-free society is impossible

Therefore, if crime is normal, it must be functional for society.

--> Increases social solidarity

The purpose of punishment is NOT crime prevention. The true purpose of punishment is symbolic expression of shared morality and outrage, etc.

Functions of Crime: Functionalism

1. Defines and clarifies moral boundaries

2. Reaffirms the collective conscience

3. Enhances social solidarity

Implications of Durkheim's Theory

Punishment and solidarity are linked; punishment increases solidarity

--> As solidarity increases, the need for punishment decreases, and vice versa.

Factors other than crime may affect punishment

--> rapid economic change, population change, social movements, etc.

Three Types of Racial Disparity

1. Imprisonment disparity relative to the population

2. Disparity relative to offending rates

3. Sentencing (or case processing) disparity

Imprisonment Disparity Relative to the Population

--> Differences in the probability that Blacks and whites are in prison on an average day

--> Synonymous with disproportionality or overrepresentation

Disparity Relative to Offending Rates

--> 40% to 55% of imprisonment disparity account for by differences in arrest

--> Less than 50% of disparity in imprisonment for drug offenses is explained by arrest

Sentencing (Or Case Processing) Disparity

--> "in-out" decisions, sentence length, guideline departures

--> Disparity most common in in-out decisions and departures

--> Blacks more likely to be incarcerated; less likely to have downward departures

--> Disparity most prevalent among young men

Racial Disparity

Population disparity and sentencing disparity are fundamentally different

--> Disparity in the population reflects differential involvement in criminal offending and differential treatment at any or all stages of the penal process

--> Disparity in sentencing may reflects differences in treatment at the final stage of the process and sentencing studies hold constant differences in involvement

What Can Explain Disparity

Long standing racial disparity in imprisonment rates mainly due to Blacks' higher rates of involvement in serious crime and greater criminal history

--> Differential treatment may exacerbate those differences

The tremendous growth of Black imprisonment, and greater absolute disparity, are driven by policies targeting violent and repeat offenders

General Theories of Law/Social Control

3 perspectives:

1. Consensus/functionalist

2. Group conflict

3. Class conflict

Shared assumptions:

1. punishment is not simply a response to crime

2. punishment serves some purpose, but not necessarily crime control

"Interest" Group Conflict Theories

Society is segmented and unequal (social class, race, sex, age, culture, etc.)

--> Groups compete over social, cultural, and economic interests

--> Groups with power create and enforce laws

~ Law is a 'weapon' in social conflict

--> Functions of law and punishment include protecting social and economic interests of the powerful and enforcing dominant moral beliefs/values

Racial Threat Theory (Blalock, 1967)

Law serves 'social control' of racial and ethnic minorities

--> Minorities pose economic and cultural threat to whites; competition for jobs, resources, etc.

--> Social control (law and punishment) neutralizes the threats

--> Perceived threat related to size of the minority population

Group Conflict Examples

1. War on Drugs

--> Drug laws often target minorities and the poor through criminalization and differential enforcement

--> Ex. Marijuana laws crack down on Black people who smoke, but 'its ok if a white college kid does it'

2. Death Penalty

--> 4x more likely when the victim is white, and most likely when Blacks kill whites

Class Conflict (Marx)

~Social organization is based on the mode of production

--> How are needs met? How are commodities produced?

~Social institutions reflect and support the mode of production

Capitalism produces 2 classes:

Bourgeoisie---own and control the means of production; take the profit

Proletariat---labor for a wage

Classes are in conflict, however unemployment and poverty are necessary.

Neo-Marxist Theories of Social Control

Crime = actions that threaten the interests of capitalists or threaten capitalism

--> "Crimes are mostly the dangerous acts of the poor..."; acts by the wealthy and powerful cause more harm but are seldom called crime

Rusche & Kirchheimer's Labor Theory of Punishment

Punishment's purpose is social control of the working class

1. Manages surplus labor by motivating people to work and protects crimes by the working class against capitalists

2. Levels of punishment reflect the need for and value of labor

--> Low unemployment = labor shortage (value up)

--> High unemployment = labor surplus (value down)

The form of punishment also reflects the needs of capitalists (prison labor, makes people productive, etc.)

RESULT: imprisonment increases as unemployment increases.

Functions of Punishment

"Problem populations" are produced by capitalism:

1. "Social junk": homeless, addicts, mentally ill, etc.

2. "Social dynamite": chronically underemployed underclass

Legitimates inequality and capitalism by deflecting attention from the true dangers and causes and blaming the victim

The New Jim Crow

Mass incarceration, in effect, replaced Jim Crow as a 'racialized system of social control'

--> A system of laws, customs, practices, and institutions that function to maintain racial hierarchy

Legal discrimination upholds 'Jim Crow' sentiments; result operates like a racial caste where all Black people are stigmatized

New Jim Crow History I

Slavery and the social construction of race: shaped our constitution

The civil war and aftermath: emancipation and civil rights act of 1866; Black political participation threatened whites' control + severe labor shortage

White backlash and the return of slavery: law as a weapon in social control; The Black Codes

New Jim Crow History II

Confessing judgement (servitude): offenders face long jail terms or pay fines, land owners could pay on their behalf, convict agrees to work until loan is repaid; judges and sheriffs as virtual slave traders

Convict leasing: leasing of inmates to private companies where conditions were worse than slavery

States exploit prison slave labor: chain gangs for road construction, agriculture, etc.

New Jim Crow Results

Political domination: Redemption

--> Non-interference by federal courts of govt.

--> Black voting is virtually eliminated through intimidation, literacy tests, felon disenfranchisement

--> Extreme segregation

--> Criminal justice = Jim Crow Enforcement