Changes in the Form of Punishment

Rusche, Georg; Kirchheimer, Otto

doi:10.4324/9781315127835-4

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Contributing to the debates on the political economy of punishment, my findings do not portray economic factors as direct catalysts of penal growth (Campbell et al, 2015; Smith, 2004). Contrary to Rusche and Kirchheimer (1939/68), unemployment is negatively associated with incarceration, which fits the recent literature (Hawes, 2017; Phelps & Pager, 2016), and can be interpreted as due to either prisons’ absorption of the otherwise unemployed individuals and distorted labor statistics (Pettit, 2012) or the growth of episodic employment (Wacquant, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

“…The conflict perspective suggests that punishment is not a purely neutral reaction to crime but also a response to economic and racial tensions in society. It is sensitive to the presence (physical rather than politically-mediated as in Beckett, 1997) of groups labeled as economically nonproductive or threatening the existing ethnoracial order (Alexander, 2010; Blalock, 1967; Rusche & Kirchheimer, 1939/68; Wacquant, 2001). There are two versions of the underclass hypothesis; one is purely economic, while the other recognizes the salience of race and ethnicity.…”

Section: The Dangerous Classes Argument: Economic and Racial Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are two versions of the underclass hypothesis; one is purely economic, while the other recognizes the salience of race and ethnicity. The first one derives from Rusche and Kirchheimer (1939/68) and is conventionally tied to the labor market and unemployment. The second interpretation takes into account the history of migration and slavery and is linked to the threats associated with either an influx and downward assimilation of immigrants into lawless “dangerous classes” (Brace, 1872/1967) or an increase in relative size and influence of the minority group perceived by the dominant group and revanchist attempts to maintain economic and political privileges (Blalock, 1967).…”

Section: The Dangerous Classes Argument: Economic and Racial Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The link between socioeconomic variables suggested by Rusche and Kirchheimer (1939/68) and incarceration has been considered “elusive” while the link between minority presence and incarceration is stronger (Pfaff, 2008). However, some research supports the existence of a link between incarceration and unemployment (Greenberg & West, 2001; Hawes, 2017; Zhang et al, 2009); income inequality (Jacobs & Helms, 1996; Phelps & Pager, 2016); and poverty (Hawes, 2017; Yates & Fording, 2005).…”

Section: The Dangerous Classes Argument: Economic and Racial Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Inter-Party Competition, Public Electoral Pressure, and Democratic Strength: Refining Political Explanations of Incarceration Trends in the U.S., 1980 – 2010

Vasiliev

2021

Criminal Justice Review

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The purpose of this research is to advance the politics of mass imprisonment literature by testing and specifying the macro-explanations of the state-level incarceration change in the United States (U.S.) between 1980 and 2010. Specifically, I account for mechanisms of inter-party competition and public electoral pressure neglected in prior research. To accomplish this goal, I utilize random coefficient models designed to control for repeated annual measures of state-level data that overwhelm traditional analytic techniques. Findings suggest that violent crime, partisan affiliation of state legislators and governors, probation rates, citizen ideology, marijuana decriminalization, and recidivist-focused laws are associated with incarceration as hypothesized, as well as the African American presence net of crime and socioeconomic disadvantage. Contributing to the theoretical debates on democracy and punishment, this paper demonstrates that inter-party competition and public electoral pressure amplify incarceration in the context of Democratic Party dominance, where no liberalizing effects of competition were found. I conclude that legal and extralegal factors are associated with incarceration and suggest that the public did not oppose criminal justice expansion via democratic feedback mechanisms, so both penal populism (Pratt, 2008) and popular punitivism (Campbell et al., 2017) are valid interpretations of imprisonment politics during the analyzed period.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 75%

Section: The Dangerous Classes Argument: Economic and Racial Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Dangerous Classes Argument: Economic and Racial Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Dangerous Classes Argument: Economic and Racial Threatmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Inter-Party Competition, Public Electoral Pressure, and Democratic Strength: Refining Political Explanations of Incarceration Trends in the U.S., 1980 – 2010

Vasiliev

2021

Criminal Justice Review

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“…Critical penologists contend that carceral systems discipline targeted groups to internalize and obey norms of productive laboring citizenship (Melossi and Pavarini, 1981). Labor practices—and particularly the surveillance and management of captive workers—may be integral to penal agendas of social control (Pisciotta, 1994; Rothman, 1971; Rusche and Kirchheimer, 2009). As Foucault (1977) notes, the prison informs and is informed by technologies of supervision deployed in other institutions, including the factory.…”

Section: Horizontal Surveillancementioning

confidence: 99%

Remote control: Horizontal surveillance and the gendering of carceral punishment

Gibson-Light

2022

Theoretical Criminology

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Research traditionally suggests that men incarcerated in the USA regard horizontal surveillance—that is, monitoring the behaviors of other prisoners—as antithetical to notions of masculinity behind bars. Yet, following an 18-month ethnography in a US prison for men, this article reveals that the imprisoned may in fact embrace prisoner-on-prisoner monitoring tied to labor. It details how participants in this institution sought out peer surveillants who had the power to grant referrals to more desirable jobs. Within prison worksites, individuals further policed peers’ production and service quality. Labor-based horizontal surveillance was integral to performances of masculinity related to employment status and work ethic. Drawing on labor scholarship as well as studies of surveillance in other penal settings, this article reveals how supervision maps onto gendered beliefs about work, offending, and contemporary American corrections in ways that contribute to carceral agendas and broader systems of control.

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Penal state power in Latin America: Cases, concepts and questions for the political sociology of penality

Santos

2024

Sociology Compass

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Examining penality across different regions and periods of time allows us to develop both a robust empirical imaginary and conceptual understanding of the commonalities and variation in how penal state power operates. In this article I elaborate key dimensions of penality in contemporary Latin America. Since the late 20th century, Latin American countries have undergone economic and political transformations with profound effects for the organization of their societies and the features and implications of penal state power. First, I situate research on penal state practices in Latin American countries within the broader dynamics of violence and social conflict across the region. Second, I review scholarship on the relationship between the features of penal state policies and reform in the region and the transformative, procedural and cultural dimensions of democracy. Third, I describe initiatives to expand state capacities to incarcerate criminalized people at an unprecedented scale and clarify the relationship of carceral administration to social order and political legitimacy across Latin America. I then conclude by elaborating how penality in Latin America contributes to our broader understanding of the relationship between penal power, state authority, and inequality; and I highlight three lines of inquiry for future research.

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Changes in the Form of Punishment

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Inter-Party Competition, Public Electoral Pressure, and Democratic Strength: Refining Political Explanations of Incarceration Trends in the U.S., 1980 – 2010

Inter-Party Competition, Public Electoral Pressure, and Democratic Strength: Refining Political Explanations of Incarceration Trends in the U.S., 1980 – 2010

Remote control: Horizontal surveillance and the gendering of carceral punishment

Penal state power in Latin America: Cases, concepts and questions for the political sociology of penality

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