27 research outputs found
Failed by the criminal justice system : the hyperincarceration of the black urban poor in the "war on drugs"
Der War on Drugs, die Hyperinhaftierung sozial schwacher Afroamerikaner und Perspektiven der Strafrechtsreform
Dehumanizing the Poor (of Color):: HBOâs The Wire on Carceral Expansion in the Neoliberal Age and Other Such âParadoxesâ
Although carceral expansion in the United Statesâ neoliberal age appears paradoxical at first glance, building on LoĂŻc Wacquant, this paper highlights that the Reagan and Clinton administrations instrumentalized punitive criminal justice to evoke a (racialized) sense of security in light of the social insecurity their neoliberal policies had created (neoliberal punitive turn). The paper then analyzes the TV series The Wireâs negotiation of the interlocking effects of neoliberalism and the âWar on Drugsâ; the show maintains that neoliberalism has fuelled the drug trade and other crime, while the âWar on Drugsâ has reproduced the very social conditions it was implemented to combat. Finally, the paper argues that the neoliberal punitive turnâs paradoxicality indeed resides in the affective regimes it has conjured, which position corporations as persons deserving of public aid (read: empathy), while the poor (of Color) are dehumanized and not only denied empathy, but even punished for their poverty