Getting Schlubs on the Right Track: Misdemeanor Courts as Neo-Liberal Institutions of Control

• In Event: 4155 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 9. Monetary Sanctions, Pre-Trial Detention, and Misdemeanor Courts

Abstract

Research on the welfare state suggests that when marginalized communities interact with the state, they become immersed in forms of state regulation. This study examines whether this is happening in low-level misdemeanor courts. Courtroom actors believe that it is their duty and their right to create better and more respectable citizens. At the same time, stringent court requirements and norms paradoxically make the fulfillment of court-mandated requirements more difficult and sometimes even impossible. This creates a cycle of futility where marginalized communities are in a cycle of proving their worth in a system that is designed for them to fail. To demonstrate this dual process, this study will contrast the way in which stakeholders, specifically judges and prosecutors think about misdemeanor justice with the ways in which defendants and the attorneys who represent them think about it. Additionally, courtroom observations will be used to demonstrate how these perspectives play out in the courtroom.

Author

• Ilya Slavinski, UT Austin