Prisons, Punishment and Political Participation

Session Submission Type: Virtual Roundtable

Session Description

The explosive growth and racialized nature of the U.S. carceral system constitutes what one scholar has referred to as “a serious normative blight on and political dysfunction of American democracy.” This panel brings together a diverse group of scholars who study the carceral state, showcasing a variety of quantitative, qualitative and normative approaches to studying the impacts of policing, law enforcement and punishment on political action and participation. The conversation will center around the excessive, exclusionary, and discriminatory mechanisms of policing and punishment employed by the U.S. carceral state, and its consequences for political action, broadly-construed. Hannah Walker studies the conditions under which experiences with policing and/or punishment mobilize political action, contrasting the experiences of Latinx communities to Black and white communities. Sally Nuamah explores how punishment and its consequences affect the perceptions and voting participation of Black women. Traci Burch works on the institutional effects of punishment on marginalized communities, showing how inequalities are further entrenched in neighborhoods with exponentially higher rates of imprisonment, probation and parole. Allison Harris explores the relationship between race, policing and sentencing through a variety of mechanisms, such as the study of bias in the courtroom and in traffic stops. Farah Godrej investigates how reform in prisons—through the introduction of so-called “humane” practices such as yoga or meditation—may enhance political resistance among incarcerated persons. Together, these scholars engage in a conversation that examines the myriad effects of policing and punishment on American democracy, collaboratively thinking through how those targeted by the carceral state engage in—or withdraw from—political life. The conversation is both interdisciplinary and intersectional, centering the lived experience of subjugated persons, with a particular focus on persons and communities of color targeted for incarceration or otherwise victimized by the carceral state.

Sub Unit

• Division 32: Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

Chair

• Farah Godrej University of California, Riverside

Presenters

• Farah Godrej University of California, Riverside

• Sally Nuamah Northwestern University

• Allison P. Harris Yale University

• Traci Burch Northwestern University

• Hannah Walker University of Texas at Austin