Understanding the Criminal Justice System
Week 1 +2 Learning Outcomes
Crime:
Definition: Any behavior, action, or omission that the State can prosecute and punish.
Characteristics:
Socially constructed: The perception of what constitutes a crime can vary across different societies and cultures.
Learned behavior: Understanding crime is influenced through socialization processes involving family, schooling, and media.
Criminalization:
Definition: The process through which an action or behavior is declared illegal.
Not fixed; it is subject to change over time and context.
Criminal Justice System (CJS):
Definition: The system of institutions responsible for apprehending, prosecuting, defending, sentencing, and punishing individuals suspected or convicted of criminal offenses.
Key factors influencing navigation of the CJS:
Intersectional identity/positionality
Socio-economic class
Access to resources
Cultural capital
Non-financial assets
Race and ethnicity
Nationality
Location: Particularly regarding proximity to high "crime areas"
Gender expression
Sexual expression
Age
Ability
History of US Mass Incarceration
Mass Incarceration:
Characterized by the highest concentration of incarcerated people in the world.
Determinative Sentencing (1978-1984):
Sentences cannot be reviewed or changed, as governed by parole boards, etc.
Utilizes a point system for establishing sentencing severity; judges have little discretion in sentencing.
Truth in Sentencing (1984):
A response to perceived leniency in sentencing practices.
Mandates that incarcerated individuals must serve at least 75% of their sentence before eligibility for release on good behavior; varies by state.
Mandatory Minimum (1986):
Establishes set, non-negotiable periods of incarceration for specified offenses without regard for individual circumstances.
Three Strikes Law (1990):
Upon the conviction of three felonies, an individual may become eligible for a sentence of 25 years to life.
In California, even minor offenses were included, and those sentenced had no eligibility for parole or rehabilitation.
Reformed in 2022: The third felony must be a serious charge to incur a life sentence.
The U.S. contains only 5% of the world's population but criminalizes 25% of that population.
Race:
Defined as a social construct that implies certain groups of people are "naturally" different.
Fixed physical characteristics and perceived biological immutability.
External features used to infer inherent internal differences.
Acts as a justification for social hierarchy and structural inequalities.
13th Amendment:
Officially abolishes slavery, except as a punishment for crime, reinforcing structural inequality.
Relationships of Power:
The structure of hierarchy is illuminated through binary oppositions (e.g., superior vs. inferior).
Examples include Colorism which demonstrates how racial constructs influence socio-economic relations.
Tied to the economics of capitalism through historical practices such as slavery and exploitation.
Review of the Documentary: 13th (2016)
Examining the birth of a nation narrative and its implications on post-Civil War white perspectives.
Revival of the KKK and the continued demonization and animalization of Black people.
Conflicts such as Jim Crow laws exemplified law-based terror.
The War on Crime initiated by Nixon emphasized law and order through coded language (dog whistles) that reframed issues faced by people of color (POC) as criminal matters.
Reagan shifted economic issues (e.g., segregation) into a lens of criminality through the War on Crime.
The 1994 Crime Bill initiated by Clinton marked a significant point in escalated policing and incarceration practices.
The story of Kalief Browder exemplifies wrongful imprisonment leading to severe mental health consequences, including suicide.
Willie Horton was a convicted murderer who committed additional violent crimes while on furlough; his case was used in the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign to portray candidate Michael Dukakis as "soft on crime."
In the documentary 13TH, his case illustrates how politicians and media have used fear-based messaging around crime—often tied to race—to justify mass incarceration and tough-on-crime policies.
Brief Overview of the US Criminal Justice System (CJS)
Factors Contributing to Mass Incarceration in the US:
Historical shifts towards neoliberal policies prioritize deregulation, free-market principles, and prolonged government spending cuts.
The 13th Amendment serves as a mechanism to re-enslave individuals.
Laws directing the policing of marginalized groups, particularly emergent tensions from the War on Drugs.
Black Codes aimed to circumscribe the mobilization and economic mobility of Black individuals.
The Jim Crow Segregation period (1896-1965) maintained systematic racial oppression within legal frameworks.
Terry v. Ohio (1968) reinforced practices of racial profiling in law enforcement.
The War on Crime in the 1970s exacerbated policing, leading to hyper-segregated and surveilled communities.
The War on Drugs: 1980s, Reagan took social health issues and made them police issues: crack v. cocaine, 100 vs 1
The 1994 Crime Bill increased police presence and intensified sentencing policies.
The continuum of labor from slaves through to inner-city underclass individuals highlights the racialization of criminality within American society.
Key Questions of Criminality:
What constitutes a crime?
is determined by the state, usually criminalizes acts that disrupt order or the means of production, ex: theft, violence, and fraud, which are viewed as threats to societal stability and economic functionality. This perspective demonstrates how laws are often shaped by those in power, reflecting their interests and values, while marginalized groups disproportionately face criminalization for behaviors that may be overlooked or tolerated in more privileged communities.
What makes something criminal?
Crime is determined by the state and has historical antecedents marked by racial bias. (For instance, the distinction between crack cocaine and powder cocaine penalties.)
How do we determine that an activity is criminal?
Through legislation (laws) and societal discourse.
Where do we learn about crimes?
From familial, social, and media sources, often exacerbated by scare tactics in media which disproportionately highlight deviant images of Black Americans.
Week 2: Impact of Incarceration on US Racial Inequalities Post-Chattel Slavery
Criminalization as a Mechanism of Civil Exclusion:
The significance of race within the criminal justice system reflects on how racial identity becomes a civic felony, as articulated by Wacquant.
Criminalization serves as a social control tool tied to labor division and perpetuates the conflation of Blackness with criminality and civic exclusion post-emancipation.
US Carceral System Reinforces Socio-Racial and Economic Inequalities:
The US carceral system operates as a race-making machine through punitive policies from the 1970s to 1990s.
Carceral labor is likened to exploitative slave labor, acknowledging dehumanization and structural discrimination.
Get-Tough Policies from the 1970s to 1980s resulted in punitive sentencing that further entrenched discrimination in societal structures.
Social, Political, and Economic Impact of Incarceration:
Permanent exclusion and discrimination manifest in cultural capital, social retribution, and exclusion from political participation.
The concept of social death emerges, wherein felony convictions facilitate legal discrimination against marginalized communities.
Correlations Between Declining Welfare and Increasing Incarceration Rates:
As welfare provisions decline, incarceration rates increase; this reflects a shift from state-supported welfare to punitive governance.
History shows that declining welfare correlates with an activization of punitive policies directed toward marginalized populations.
States with higher proportions of Black populations experienced reduced welfare spending and increased incarceration rates.
Broader Impact of Incarceration
Social Consequences:
Restricted welfare access for those with felony convictions.
Political Consequences:
Loss of voting rights, significantly affecting Black communities.
Economic Consequences:
Employment loss linked to felony convictions, as job applications typically feature a checkbox regarding felony history.
Limited educational opportunities during incarceration further exacerbates inequality.
Contributing Policies to Mass Incarceration:
Global economic shifts, including the Peak Oil Crisis and deindustrialization trends altered the state’s approach to social provisions.
Welfare cuts and reconstruction of civil rights increased state repression.
Criminalization of poverty resulted in repurposing social services into surveillance entities instead of safety nets for the vulnerable.
Surveillance and Control
Define Surveillance:
A governance technique to promote self-discipline within bodies through constant data collection and monitoring.
The potential of being watched serves as a disciplinary tool fostering conformity to social norms.
The concept of Panopticon as a model illustrates surveillance architecture, featuring an observation tower that embodies the essence of constant observation, inducing internal fear of wrongdoing.
Origins of Surveillance:
Foucault utilized the concept to denote the transition from public torture to hidden imprisonment to enforce self-discipline.
Historical references to Jeremy Bentham's views emphasized maximizing societal happiness through pervasive observation mechanisms.
Surveillance tools evolved, with early forms maintained during slavery, portraying a racialized method of control.
Racial Implications of Surveillance:
Surveillance systems produced during slavery established intersectional controls that persist in modern institutions, evidencing racial hierarchies.
Early identification practices, such as slave passes and patrols, defined social categories that continue to inform contemporary applications of surveillance technologies and policies.
Consequences of Racialized Surveillance:
Racialized systems of surveillance, historically rooted in slavery, exemplify ongoing dynamics of control that perpetuate inequality and stigmatization.
Modern examples include extensive networks of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in public spaces, the deployment of facial recognition technology, and the use of drone surveillance.
These technologies often disproportionately target and impact marginalized communities, echoing the historical racialized methods of control seen in early slave patrols. Predictive policing algorithms, for instance, can perpetuate existing biases by directing resources to already heavily policed areas.
Policing Approaches and Evolution
Community Policing:
Definition: A philosophy emphasizing partnerships and problem-solving to address public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.
Key elements:
Problem-solving: Proactive identification and resolution of underlying causes of crime.
Community partnership: Collaboration between police and community members.
Organizational transformation: Adapting police structure and management to support community engagement.
Examples: Implementation of "Neighborhood Watch" programs or community resource centers, aiming to build trust and address local concerns.
Criticisms: Issues with genuine community representation, potential for increased surveillance, and can still operate within punitive frameworks. However, critics point to issues like the "Broken Windows" theory, which, despite its community-oriented facade, often leads to increased policing of minor offenses in marginalized communities, thereby exacerbating existing inequalities.
Counter-Insurgency (COIN) and Domestic Policing:
COIN Definition: Military actions aimed at defeating insurgent movements.
Application to domestic policing: The adoption of military strategies, tactics, and mindset by civilian police forces in handling domestic unrest or perceived "high-crime" areas.
Examples: Policies like "Stop-and-Frisk" in cities have been criticized for applying COIN-like tactics to civilian populations, particularly in communities of color, treating residents as potential insurgents rather than citizens. The use of "predictive policing" algorithms targeting specific neighborhoods based on crime data can also reflect a COIN mentality, preemptively surveilling and controlling populations.
Historical context: Influenced by military engagements abroad and domestic "wars" (e.g., War on Drugs, War on Terror) post-$9/11$.
Impact: Contributes to an "us vs. them" mentality, increased use of force, and the perception of certain communities as occupied territory, often disproportionately affecting marginalized groups.
Police Militarization:
Definition: The process by which civilian law enforcement agencies acquire and use military-grade equipment, training, and tactics.
Drivers:
Federal programs: Such as the $1033 Program, providing surplus military equipment to police.
Grants: Federal funding for military-style training and equipment.
Fear of crime/terrorism: Justification for enhanced capabilities.
Characteristics: Use of armored vehicles, automatic weapons, SWAT teams for routine tasks, combat-style gear. The $1033 Program explicitly allows police departments to acquire surplus military equipment, leading to an arsenal that often includes costly items ill-suited for community engagement yet frequently deployed in routine law enforcement tasks.
Consequences: Escalation of force, alienation of communities, blurring of lines between military and police, disproportionate impact on Black and brown communities. This was visibly demonstrated during responses to protests (e.g., Ferguson, Missouri) where law enforcement deployed armored vehicles (MRAPs), military-grade rifles, and combat fatigues against civilian demonstrators, illustrating a blurring of domestic policing and military engagement.
Final Considerations and Reflections
Synthesis of Themes: - Broad implications drawn from the readings highlight:
Interrelationship between mass incarceration and socio-economic policies, illustrating how economic