Monetary Sanctions and Mass Incarceration in American Criminal Justice

A collection of flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to monetary sanctions and mass incarceration in American Criminal Justice.

Monetary Sanctions

Penalties or fines imposed on individuals, often disproportionately affecting economically disadvantaged populations.

Financialization

The process through which financial motives and methods become central to economic practices, including criminal justice.

Public Revenue Generation

The goal of generating income for the state, used strategically within the criminal justice system.

Traditional Pillars of Punishment

Incapacitation, deterrence, retribution, and rehabilitation.

Criminal Legal System

The framework within which laws are created, enforced, and prosecuted, often acting as a method of taxation.

Nevada’s Misdemeanor Administrative Assessment

A specific financial penalty applied to misdemeanor convictions in Nevada to fund state courts.

Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA)

A federal agency established in 1968 that provided grants to modernize criminal justice systems.

Tax Revolts of the 1970s and 1980s

Movements against rising property taxes, leading to constraints on local revenue sources.

Mass Incarceration

A system characterized by a significantly high rate of incarceration, especially within marginalized communities.

Cumulative Chance of Imprisonment

The likelihood that individuals, particularly demographic groups, will experience imprisonment at some stage in their life.

Flow vs. Stock

Flow refers to the rate of ever-imprisoned individuals, while stock represents the current population in prisons.

Repurposing of Criminal Law

The transformation of law to address economic and social inequalities, particularly in marginalized communities.

Quality of Life Offenses

Minor infractions such as loitering or public intoxication, often disproportionately enforced among the poor.

Therapeutic Policing

Utilizing criminal justice systems to enforce behavioral corrections among impoverished individuals, framing it as rehabilitation.

Neoliberalism

An economic approach emphasizing deregulation and the reduction of state welfare programs, impacting poverty governance.

Broken Windows Theory

The theory that addressing minor crimes helps to prevent more serious crimes from occurring.

Post-Civil Rights Rhetoric

Political discourse linking civil rights movements to crime, fostering punitive legal responses.

Rehabilitative Ideal

The belief that crime is a result of social and economic factors, suggesting rehabilitation as a response.

Indeterminate Sentencing

Sentencing that allows parole boards discretion on when to release inmates, based on behavior and rehabilitation.

Three-Strike Laws

Legislation increasing penalties for repeat offenders, often resulting in life sentences after three felony convictions.

Criminal Justice as Taxation

Framing the criminal justice system primarily as a vehicle for revenue generation rather than solely for punishment.

Structural Shifts

Changes in economic and social conditions that create pressures for punitive measures within the criminal justice system.

Collateral Consequences

Additional effects of criminal convictions that extend beyond direct penalties, affecting employment and social status.

Selectively Obeyed Laws

Laws that are enforced more stringently for certain populations, particularly marginalized groups.

Political and Economic Backlash

The response to civil rights advancements that manifests in harsher criminal justice policies.

Social Relations of Production

Forms of relationships between individuals or groups in the production and distribution of goods.

Class Structure in Law

The way laws reflect and reinforce existing social class relations.

Ferguson Effect

The theory that increased scrutiny of police leads to higher crime rates due to over-policing and lack of community trust.

Demographic Disparities

Inequalities among different demographic groups, particularly in justice system outcomes and incarceration rates.

Fiscal Crisis and Punishment

Economic downturns that lead to harsher economic policies and increased punitive measures.