Carceral Status in the Matrix of Domination: Advancing a New Axis of Stratification in Research and Practice

• In Event: Convict Criminology #1: History, Research, and Praxis in Convict Criminology

Abstract

We have all committed crimes, but few get caught. The distinction between carceral and conventional citizens is one that affords great privileges to some and grave consequences for others. Rooted in critical feminist and abolitionist scholarship, this work builds on Denise Woodall’s original conceptualization of ‘carceral status’ as an axis of stratification that intersects with race, class, gender, and sexuality, shaping access to civil liberties, life chances, and the luxury to forget. This talk establishes the foundation for framing, testing, and empirically analyzing carceral status as a sociological and social-structural dimension of privilege and oppression, intersecting with broader systems of inequality. It advances new directions for theorizing carceral status within intersectional and structural frameworks, highlighting pathways for empirical inquiry and transformative justice.

Author

• Denise Ruth Woodall, University of North Georgia / American University