Punishment after Slavery: Southern State Penal Systems, 1865-1890

Adamson, Christopher

doi:10.2307/800272

Cited by 99 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…While in some ways a functional substitute for slavery (Adamson 1983), convict labor was also distinct in important ways. First, because leasers had little economic interest in the long-term productivity of leased workers, leasers often treated them particularly harshly, unconcerned whether they lived or died (Blackmon 2008).…”

Section: Work and Punishment In Prisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Historically, prison administrators and reformers rooted the rehabilitative potential of prison labor in the practice of hard labor, which justified incarcerated people’s lack of choice with respect to work and the coercion necessary to bring it about. These moral valuations neatly aligned with the profit motives of businesses that contracted for or leased this labor, as well as with state governments’ efforts to reduce the costs of incarceration (Adamson 1983; Blackmon 2008; Hindus 1980; Lewis 1965; Lichtenstein 1996; McKelvey 1935; McLennan 2008; Perkinson 2010; Rothman [1971] 2006; Sellin 1976).…”

mentioning

confidence: 90%

See 1 more Smart Citation

From Hard Labor to Market Discipline: The Political Economy of Prison Work, 1974 to 2022

Reich

2024

Am Sociol Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A long sociological tradition has examined how state coercion undergirds the “free market” for labor. In the contemporary prison, however, there are signs this relationship has been turned on its head. Whereas in the past, state coercion helped prisons generate profit for private markets, today market ideas are increasingly used within prisons to facilitate state control. I draw on an analysis of seven waves of the Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities, as well as 61 interviews with state prison administrators, prison industry advocates, and formerly incarcerated people. Although the market for the products of prison labor has declined, and incarcerated people, on average, are working less than ever before, inequality in the distribution of work and rewards for this work has sharpened. This changing structure of prison labor is associated with a changing understanding of it. Prison administrators, and to some extent incarcerated people themselves, use market ideas to explain the new organization of prison labor and justify people’s places within it. This organization and these ideas solve managerial problems within the prison and are suggestive of parallels between prison and social welfare policy in the contemporary era.

show abstract

Section: Work and Punishment In Prisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 90%

From Hard Labor to Market Discipline: The Political Economy of Prison Work, 1974 to 2022

Reich

2024

Am Sociol Rev

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Legal financial obligations in Western legal systems date back to the Magna Carta and there exists a rich empirical tradition in the sociology of law and punishment that examines the relationship between monetary sanctions and penal policies (e.g., Rusche & Kirchheimer, 1939). Focusing on their early roots in U.S. laws, researchers have demonstrated how LFOs and subsequent legal debt evolved as tools of social control embedded in systems of slavery, indentured servitude, and convict leasing (Adamson, 1983; Blackmon, 2008; Miethe & Lu, 2005). Blackmon (2008) shows the role of monetary sanctions post‐Emancipation as Black people became the target of new LFOs and a type of neoslavery developed, re‐enslaving recently freed people through debt bondage and forced labor.…”

Section: The Political Development Of Lfosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Blackmon (2008) shows the role of monetary sanctions post‐Emancipation as Black people became the target of new LFOs and a type of neoslavery developed, re‐enslaving recently freed people through debt bondage and forced labor. Over the second half of the 19th century, monetary sanctions were interwoven throughout the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws (often for minor crimes like loitering) to punish and control formerly enslaved people (Adamson, 1983; Blackmon, 2008).…”

Section: The Political Development Of Lfosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the U.S., LFOs date back to colonial times with deep political and racialized roots. Many monetary sanctions developed in the 18th and 19th centuries as part of Slave Codes, Black Codes, and Jim Crow laws which evolved over time as ways to control Black peoples' movement and labor (Adamson, 1983; Blackmon, 2008; Friedman, 2020; Harris et al., 2010; Jones, 2018; Miethe & Lu, 2005; Rios, 2019). In the late 20th century, LFOs expanded rapidly alongside mass incarceration and exacerbated the punitive effects of peoples' legal system involvements, propelling them further into the system due to the negative consequences of nonpayment and creating a lifetime of debt for these individuals and their families as many cannot afford to pay (Harris, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Legal financial obligations in the United States: A review of recent research

LaScala‐Gruenewald

Paik

2023

Sociology Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the United States, legal financial obligations (LFOs) include many types of monetary sanctions. For example, fines are tied to specific offenses and imposed at conviction and fees charge people for the "use" of courts, prisons, and other public services. With the rise of mass incarceration, millions of people across the U.S. owe billions of dollars in LFOs. Yet despite the widespread use of monetary sanctions, it was not until the last decade that research began to uncover the vast system of LFOs embedded throughout U.S. laws and understand their far-reaching socioeconomic consequences. This paper reviews recent research on LFOs across three areas:(1) the political development of LFOs, (2) their implementation and enforcement, and (3) the consequences of LFOs on people, broader social networks, and the functioning of public institutions. We conclude with recommendations for future research that explores the hidden processes connecting these three areas and accounts for the fractured nature of the U.S. government.

show abstract

Convict Leasing

Day¹

2013

The Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During the aftermath of the Civil War, prison systems in southern states were plagued by deteriorating prisons, an increase in inmates, and a lack of funding to support rebuilding and maintaining an effective prison system. Southern states, as a result, began experimenting with leasing inmates to businesses and individuals as a means of reducing prison populations and costs. The convict leasing system, however, was plagued with abuse and mistreatment of inmates causing its popularity to decline in spite of profits and by the 1930s convict leasing ceased to be used in the United States.

show abstract

Punishment after Slavery: Southern State Penal Systems, 1865-1890

Cited by 99 publications

References 7 publications

From Hard Labor to Market Discipline: The Political Economy of Prison Work, 1974 to 2022

From Hard Labor to Market Discipline: The Political Economy of Prison Work, 1974 to 2022

Legal financial obligations in the United States: A review of recent research

Convict Leasing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About