Predation and the Penal State

• In Event: The Concept of the Penal State

Abstract

The concept of the “penal state” raises a set of analytic and political questions that can remain obscured when we speak of a general topic, such as “punishment and society.” By invoking the “state,” the concept calls forth classic political questions such as: Who governs; who is governed; on what terms; and toward what ends? How is the penal “state” organized, and how does it function? What does it encompass? By specifying “penal,” the concept indicates a concern with an analytically specific and discernible subset of all state apparatuses and activities. At the same time, it pushes scholars to confront the task of identifying and illuminating how the penal state serves multiple functions, some of which may exceed, complicate, or compromise its performance of penal functions. Drawing on our analysis in Legal Plunder, we discuss new insights that come into focus when we ground our analytic perspective in the predatory uses and functions of the penal state. How, we ask, might this perspective change our understanding of the boundaries, operations, and uses of the penal state? This analysis, we argue, has major implications for understanding how and why criminal legal governance operates as it does.

Authors

• Josh Page, University of Minnesota

• Joe Soss, University of Minnesota