Review of Carceral State Studies and Application

Abstract

This review considers a range of literature that contributes to a critical conversation encompassing radical opposition to the Carceral State and its logics, practices, and technologies. The carceral concept has been adopted and applied to multiple areas of the social world. With few exceptions, the term “Carceral State” has been used by many scholars without a comprehensive or agreed definition of the concept. This review is an attempt to piece together various pieces of literature that offer theoretical explorations of mass incarceration, as well as, how punishment and the logics of prison have informed economic, political, and social landscapes, compromising what has been identified by many scholars as a Carceral State.

“Your Hands are Tied, Literally:” Mothers Navigating Relationships With Their Children While System-Involved

“…The findings here provide detailed accounts that reveal the complexity of parenting while navigating interpersonal relationships, gendered expectations, as well as the expansion of the Carceral State through both the criminal legal system and child and family services (Martensen, 2020). In particular, this study highlights the difficulty mothers and children face at the intersection of the criminal legal and child welfare systems.…”

“…These standards structure child welfare expectations and lead to the disparities in suspicion and loss of custody. Scholars argue that the Carceral State extends beyond the criminal legal system through hypersurveillance and overpolicing particularly among poor and racially diverse families (for a review, see Martensen, 2020). The experiences of formerly incarcerated mothers exemplify the wide reach of the Carceral State through incarceration, community supervision, and the child welfare system.…”

“…As discussed by Martensen (2020), the Carceral State spans beyond prisons and jails, and includes institutions that regulate and thereby punish poor communities, such as child and family services, welfare/workfare agencies, public education, immigration, and health and human services (Meiners, 2015). Any discussion of the Carceral State must incorporate intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1990) to recognize how race intersects with other social identities, including gender, to shape experiences under social control.…”

As configurações de género nos regimes prisionais e a reprodução da carceralidade*

“…Nos Estados Unidos da América, a expansão do estado carcerário (Martensen, 2020) no período pós-colonial e intensificada pelo neoliberalismo configurou o complexo assistencial-carcerário (Wacquant, 2009) que sustenta a guetização urbana imposta sobre pessoas e comunidades pobres e racializadas, sujeitas aos efeitos de controlo e punição do sistema de proteção social e do sistema criminal, desenhando a geografia carcerária e os continuums carcerários.…”

And Who Will Revere the Black Girl

“…. in fact the social fabric of the United States” (Martensen 2020, 1). In an overview of the nascent field of carceral state studies, Martensen documented how “tough on crime politics” orders racialized people’s experiences.…”