"Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice.

Lichtenstein, Alex; Oshinsky, David M.

doi:10.2307/2211332

Cited by 11 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Christian fundamentalists in America seem to have an elective affinity for structural racism and one of its pillars-incarceration. This may seem surprising because religious reformers have historically been important leaders in demanding more humane punishments that emphasized redemption and forgiveness (Oshinsky, 1996). But as Emerson and Smith's (2000) work highlights, evangelical Christians in the US rarely "rock the boat" because their cultural toolkit marginalizes structural explanations for socioeconomic phenomena, and because America's political economy, with its emphasis on the Protestant ethic and individual agency, was forged to fit this worldview.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The demographic divide: Population dynamics, race and the rise of mass incarceration in the United States

Campbell

Vogel

2017

Punishment & Society

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This manuscript examines whether certain fundamental demographic changes in age structures across racial groups might help explain incarceration rates in the United States. We argue that a "demographic divide"-a growing divergence in the age structures of blacks and whites-was an important factor that contributed to the nation's rising incarceration rates. Where age disparities between blacks and whites were higher ideological conservatism and religious fundamentalism increased, as did incarceration rates. We contend that historical forces shape how groups respond to subsequent social problems and proposed solutions to them and explore how "generational effects" may shape law and policy. Specifically, we suggest that states with older white and younger black populations created fertile conditions for a more punitive brand of politics and penal policy. We analyze decennial state-level data from 1970 to 2010 and examine whether differences in the median ages of blacks and whites contributed to changing incarceration rates within states over time. We situate our findings within the broader scholarship that has engaged the complex links between race, religion, political conservatism, and punishment. Our findings illustrate the importance of accounting for long-term shifts in social structure in understanding more proximate changes in law and policy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The demographic divide: Population dynamics, race and the rise of mass incarceration in the United States

Campbell

Vogel

2017

Punishment & Society

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“…. transferred symbolically significant numbers of black people from the prison of slavery to the slavery of prison" (Davis 1998, 75; see also Oshinsky 1996).…”

Section: Crime and Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“This Unfortunate Development”: Incarceration and Democracy in W. E. B. Du Bois

Mamet

2022

Political Theory

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Incarceration served as a primary apparatus by which abolition democracy was defeated after Reconstruction. Carceral institutions—such as the penitentiary, the convict-lease system, and the chain gang—functioned to demarcate the racial limits of citizenship and to impede equal political power. This article turns to W. E. B. Du Bois to argue that incarceration constrains democratic political equality. Turning to Du Bois’s treatment of crime and imprisonment in works including The Philadelphia Negro (1899), “The Spawn of Slavery” (1901), and The Souls of Black Folk (1903), alongside archival material, I situate incarceration in Du Bois’s democratic thought. According to Du Bois, carceral institutions bounded ideas of full citizenship, fueled panic over Black “criminality,” fomented feelings of inferiority, and hampered the possibility for abolition democracy, a multiracial, multiclass movement committed to worker democracy and a future rid of slavery and subjugation. Du Bois shows us how carceral institutions run into tension with democratic ideals.

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“…And so the binary rears its ugly head -political vs. criminal, us vs. them, good vs. bad, just vs. unjust, non-violent vs. violentsilencing the voices that deconstruct the binary and assert all prisoners are political prisoners. For example, it is difficult to read historical analyses of incarceration in the United States and not conclude that the criminalization of poor people of colour, especially African-American men, is political (Alexander, 2012;Baldwin, 1962Baldwin, /1992Oshinsky, 1997;Thompson, 2016). The book's exclusion of the organizing and hunger strikes of incarcerated African-American men in the United States is a significant oversight.…”

Section: Michael Gibson-lightmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nayan Shah, Refusal to Eat: A Century of Prison Hunger Strikes

Smoyer

2022

Punishment & Society

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"Worse Than Slavery": Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice.

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

The demographic divide: Population dynamics, race and the rise of mass incarceration in the United States

The demographic divide: Population dynamics, race and the rise of mass incarceration in the United States

“This Unfortunate Development”: Incarceration and Democracy in W. E. B. Du Bois

Nayan Shah, Refusal to Eat: A Century of Prison Hunger Strikes

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