A critical examination of how contemporary criminal justice
reforms expand rather than shrink structurally violent systems of
policing, surveillance, and carceral control in the United States.
Public opposition to
the structural racist, gendered, and economic violence that fuels the
criminal legal system is reaching a critical mass. Ignited by popular
uprisings, protests, and campaigns against state violence, demands
for transformational change have escalated. In response, a now deeply
entrenched so-called bipartisan industry has staked its claim to the
reform terrain. Representing itself as a sensible bridge across
bitterly polarized political divides and party lines, the bipartisan
reform industry has sought to control the nature and scope of local,
state, and federal reforms. Along the way, it creates an expanding
web of neoliberal public-private partnerships, with the promotion and
implementation of efforts managed by billionaires, public officials,
policy factories, foundations, universities, and mega nonprofit
organizations. Yet many bipartisan reforms constitute deceptive
sleights of hand that not only fail to produce justice but actively
reproduce structural racial and economic inequality.
Carceral Con
pulls the veil away from the reform public relations machine,
providing a riveting overview of the repressive US carceral state and
a critical examination of the reform terrain, quagmires, and choices
that face us. This book vividly illustrates how contemporary
bipartisan reform agendas leave the structural apparatus of mass
incarceration intact while widening the net of carceral control and
surveillance. Readers are also provided with information and insights
useful for examining the likely impacts of reforms today and in the
future. What can we learn from reforms of the past? What strategies
hold most promise for dismantling structural inequalities, corporate
control, and state violence? What approaches will reduce reliance on
carceral control and also bring about community safety? Utilizing an
abolitionist lens, Carceral Con makes the compelling case for
liberatory approaches to envisioning and creating a just society.