Revisiting the War on Crime: Federal Dependence and Local Punitive Spending Under Fiscal Duress

• In Event: The Political Economy of the Carceral State

Brief Overview

My paper examines how federal investments in law enforcement through the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration reshaped city budgets during the 1980 Volcker recession, showing that early aid deepened punitive spending and spread carceral ideas.

Author

• Darius Cozart, Princeton University