In her exciting new
book, Marisol LeBrón traces the rise of punitive governance in
Puerto Rico over the course of the twentieth century and up to the
present. Punitive governance emerged as a way for the Puerto Rican
state to manage the deep and ongoing crises stemming from the
archipelago’s incorporation into the United States as a colonial
territory. A structuring component of everyday life for many Puerto
Ricans, police power has reinforced social inequality and worsened
conditions of vulnerability in marginalized communities.
This book provides
powerful examples of how Puerto Ricans negotiate and resist their
subjection to increased levels of segregation, criminalization,
discrimination, and harm. Policing Life and Death shows how Puerto
Ricans are actively rejecting punitive solutions and working toward
alternative understandings of safety and a more just future.