LST 400 > Midterm > Flashcards

Midterm Flashcards

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1
Q

Alexander “The New Jim Crow” main argument

A

mass incarceration functions as a comprehensive system of racialized social control to maintain racial hierarchy

The system uses the race-neutral label of “felon” to authorize the same legal discriminations (denial of voting, housing, employment) that were once used explicitly based on race under Jim Crow

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2
Q

why is the criminal justice system a “gateway” into permanent undercaste/underworld (Alexander)

A

once released, former prisoners enter an “underworld” of legalized discrimination and permanent social exclusion (voting, access to housing or employment)

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3
Q

Covert “The Court Watch Movement Wants To Expose The ‘House of Cards’” main argument

A

that the criminal legal system is a “house of cards” propped up by the public’s lack of understanding of its daily operations.

Once people appreciate the reality of these operations, the system will be forced to change

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4
Q

what is the court watch movement

A

group of volunteers sent to city courtrooms to observe what happens and gather data (origin in Chicago)

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5
Q

what was the outcome of the court watching program

A

giving the public an understanding of what goes on inside city courtrooms

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6
Q

court watch key findings

A

bail-setting varies by judge, cases often acts of desperation and poverty, majority of cases are nonviolent, majority of cases = POC, bail is more likely when requested by district attorney

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7
Q

what does Covert mean by the power of visibility

A

the presence of watchers can shift power and force accountability, leading to more favorable outcomes for defendants

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8
Q

Davis “From the Prison of Slavery to the Slavery of Prison: Frederick Douglass and the Convict Lease System” main argument

A

13th Amendment loophole allowed the South to re-enslave Black people by allowing slavery as punishment for a crime via the convict lease system

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9
Q

what were Frederick Douglass’s political beliefs

A

believed in the establishment (that we could work out racial issues through the system) and that overtime (post-slavery era), Black people would be less and less criminalized

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10
Q

what are the black codes

A

southern laws that criminalized vagrancy, breech of job contracts, absence from work, possession of firearms, and insulting gestures or acts

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11
Q

why were black codes racist

A

nullified black people’s new judicial status as US citizens and racialized crimes (only black people could be charged)

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12
Q

what did the Thirteenth Amendment do

A

abolished slavery and involuntary servitude

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13
Q

Thirteenth Amendment loophole

A

crimes were punishable by incarceration and forced labor

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14
Q

what are the two theories of the convict lease system

A

1: labor control, “crime” increased in areas with business contracts (mining, tree removal, railroad, expansion, etc.)

2: racial domination: harsh treatment of minority groups increased in areas where minorities posed a threat (convict leasing used most in counties where Black people were establishing own farms and businesses; urban areas used more than rural)

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15
Q

why does Davis disagree with Douglass

A

She critiques his “absolute faith” in legal reform and Enlightenment principles, which she argues blinded him to the way legal institutions were complicit in re-enslaving Black people via the convict lease system

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16
Q

why did douglass focus on lynching

A

because it was outside the pale of the law, thus unlawful by nature; victims were divested of the right to confront their accusers

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17
Q

Herring “Complaint-Oriented Policing: Regulating Homelessness in Public Space” main argument

A

complaint-oriented policing results in burden shuffling, where police move the unhoused from one block to another rather than providing housing

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18
Q

what is complaint-oriented policing

A

residents and businesses can call the police to “deal with” homelessness; homeless crisis fueled by an increase in these complaints rather than an actual increase in homelessness

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19
Q

what is pervasive penality

A

policing through move-along orders, citations, and threats of arrests

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20
Q

what are the three aspects/components of pervasive penality

A
  1. seizing and destruction of personal property (including medication, IDs, tools, and tents)
  2. legal financing barriers: few complaints result in actual citations, but when they do, increase debt (legal debt prevents people from escaping homelessness)
  3. social and spatial churn: “whack a mole,” self-fulfilling prophecy of community crime and disorganization
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21
Q

what is the impact of policing homelessness on inequality

A

criminalized poverty, treating homelessness as a nuisance, resulting in legal action rather than addressing the root causes

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22
Q

what is aggressive policing

A

Left hand: nurture and provide via education, welfare, and medical care

Right hand: sternness and discipline via police, courts, and prison

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23
Q

what is therapeutic policing

A

balancing the part of the state that protects people (left hand) and the part that disciplines (right hand)

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24
Q

what is neoliberalism

A

economic restructuring in 1970s and 1980s: free market system based in minimal government intervention (deregulation of industry and deindustrialization, limited labor protections, privatization of risk)

believed untrue –> rather the state is interventionist

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25
Hinton "“A War within Our Own Boundaries”: Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and the Rise of the Carceral State" main argument
that the "War on Crime" prioritized control and incarceration over actual equality | Johnson was framework for War on Crime ## Footnote War on Poverty (Johnson) War on Crime (Nixon and Carter) War on Drugs (Reagan, 1980s and 1990s)
26
what did the Law Enforcement Act of 1965 do
established federal influence over local police operations creating direct funding channels between the federal government and criminal justice system at large
27
consequences of the Law Enforcement Act
portrayed black people as criminals, integrated law enforcement into the community, and allowed crime prediction programs to target patrols based on anticipated crime (aka in black communities)
28
what were model cities
authorized hella grants to improve the quality of urban life by creating living quarters, clinics, schools, and rec centers in close proximity to one another; integrated law enforcement by increasing foot patrol and policing programs
29
Joseph and McCarthy "California Civil Asset Forfeiture and the Policing of Minority Residents" main argument
Civil Asset Forfeiture (CAF) is an institutional tool used disproportionately against black communities, regardless of actual crime levels
30
What are CAFs
allow law enforcement to retain the cash and property that they seize; can be any item used to commit an alleged crimes; expanded by Reagan during War on Drugs
31
what do critics of CAF argue
they're unconstitutional, incentivize misconduct, target minority communities
32
key Joseph and McCarthy findings
CAF is a form of aggresive policing used disproportionately against minorities; strong association between the number of police seizures and the percentage of black residents
33
what is Racial Threat Theory
(Blalock) the dominant racial group (whites) use their resources to preserve their dominance; focuses on two threats
34
what are the two threats of racial threat theory
economic and symbolic
35
what is the economic threat in the racial threat theory
competition for jobs, wages, occupational status
36
what is the symbolic threat in the racial threat theory
connection between minorities and crime used as the basis for discrimination; politicians encourage the perception that crime is concentrated in black communities (fosters support for police power against minorities)
37
what is slow violence
disadvantages that compunt over time rather than one catastrophic event; sum of its parts greater than violence seen in court; victimization is dispersed and hidden
38
Lassiter "Impossible Criminals: The Suburban Imperatives of America’s War on Drugs" main argument
US drug policy is shaped by suburban imperatives to protect middle-class white youth from the consequences of drug laws
39
what is the "pusher-victim" script
the media and government framed white youth as innocent victims and black and immigrant populations as predatory pushers
40
consequences of pusher-victim script
bipartisan consensus that selectively decriminalized marijuana for "otherwise law-abiding" white youth while maintaining militarized prevention/enforcement in urban minority neighborhoods
41
what caused the crackdown on weed
"gateway drug" allegations; middle class groups demanded severe penalties to prevent urban and foreign "pushers" from corrupting white youth (despite white youth being the majority of users and dealers)
42
Meyn "CONSTRUCTING SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL COURTROOMS" main argument
federal procedural reforms in the 1940s wrote race into procedure, creating a two-tiered legal system. White prosecutors given unchecked discretion and control of the factual record/narrative deliberately reducing defendants to passive participants
43
what was the result of civil court reform (1938)
made initiating a case easier, permit claim consolidation, both parties had the power to discover info and interrogate witnesses, litigants = active participants
44
what was the result of criminal court reform (1946)
expediency a priority. rules meant to make prosecution easier and quicker. No discovery phase: prosecutor has unilateral ability to judge the credibility, relevance, and materiality of facts, and could determine what facts withhold or share. Defendants = passive participants
45
Muhammad "The Measure of Crime" main argument
institutions used the "mismeasure of crime" and racial stats to normalize black criminality while "sanitizing" white ethnic crime. "objective" crime data used to justify segregation and deny Black access to education and recreation
46
what is the stigmatization of crime
white crime = individual failure while black crime = norm; immigrant assimilation as the desire to be part of singular white race (reinforcing anti-black racism); black criminalization became widely accepted basis for discriminatory treatment, acceptance of racial violence, and reason for black inferiority.
47
What is mass incarceration
Two primary features: A rate of imprisonment markedly above the historical and comparative norm. A high demographic concentration that affects whole racial and class groups
48
Historic link between race, crime, and stats
Following the 1890 census, social scientists and reformers used "racial statistics" to argue that high rates of Black arrests and mortality were "objective" proof of Black unfitness for freedom. This "mismeasure of crime" normalized Black criminality as an innate racial pathology while "sanitizing" white ethnic crime through environmental theories. These statistics were used to justify segregation
49
Colorblind racism and the New Jim Crow
In the era of colorblindness, it is no longer socially permissible to use race explicitly to justify discrimination. Instead, the criminal justice system is used to label people of color "criminals," which then legally authorizes the same forms of exclusion (denial of voting, housing, and jobs) that were used during the Jim Crow era. This "New Jim Crow" functions as a redesigned racial caste system that maintains racial hierarchy through formally race-neutral language and policies
50
Between 1890 and 1940, how were statistics used to create "racial knowledge" about crime?
Social scientists used arrest data as "objective" proof of Black racial inferiority, using these statistics to justify segregation and portray Blackness as a stable signifier of deviance compared to "white" criminality
51
How did the War on Poverty contribute to the rise of the carceral state?
It blended social uplift programs with surveillance, embedding police into low-income communities and creating a federal funding infrastructure that prioritized arrest records and control over social welfare
52
what is new racism
A product of racial domination where social exclusion is achieved through formally race-neutral labels (like "criminal") rather than explicit racial language
53
what is big data
Computerized crime prediction that appears objective but increases inequality by rationalizing concentrated police deployment in Black communities based on biased historical data
54
Explain how the federal criminal court diverged from civil court
In the 1940s, procedural reforms created "separate and unequal courtrooms" Civil Court: Designed for white litigants; emphasized transparency and discovery powers to ensure adversarial balance. Criminal Court: Stripped defendants (often people of color) of discovery powers, granting prosecutors unchecked discretion to control the factual record
55
Explain how racial politics played a role in the changing structure and procedures of the criminal court
Racial politics influenced the court to prioritize "efficiency" and speed to satisfy white "bloodlust" and provide a carceral substitute for lynchings. This structure inserted a white gatekeeper (the prosecutor) with unreviewable discretion to "sort" defendants based on racialized perceptions of "law-abiding instincts"
56
How does power play out in the modern criminal court?
skewed heavily toward the state; prosecutors unilaterally determine what evidence to share, while defendants are reduced to "passive participants"
57
Describe the relationship between civil rights and “law and order”
"law and order" = rhetoric used to pit the "civil right" to safety against the Black activism of the 1960s
58
Describe the relationship between social welfare and social control
Great Society programs merged antipoverty funds with anticrime initiatives, embedding police into schools, clinics, and housing projects
59
How do the tools, institutions, and funding of this era set the stage for “mass incarceration” in the 1980s and 1990s
The 1960s War on Crime provided the carceral infrastructure: funding for local police, militarized equipment (helicopters, armored vehicles), and surveillance technology. By tying grant funds to arrest records, the government incentivized the mass incarceration of low-income urban residents
60
Explain the relationship between color-blind racism and mass incarceration (how does racial discrimination still operate?)
Racial discrimination operates through coded words and dog whistles (e.g., "tough on crime," "urban drug pushers") that associate Black communities with criminality without naming race. This allows the state to target "criminals" while claiming to be race-neutral
61
In what ways can we still see the afterlife of the war on drugs in the courts?
The drug war's legacy persists through: The "prison label" that authorizes permanent legal discrimination. Probable cause laws that allow the "smell of marijuana" to justify warrantless searches, a tactic used disproportionately against Black and Hispanic motorists
62
How does Civil Asset Forfeiture illustrate the “slow violence” of policing?
(CAF) allows police to seize cash and property based on mere suspicion without a conviction. This targets Black communities for revenue extraction, creating long-term financial instability that traps individuals in poverty
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