Precarious Penality on the Periphery of the South African State

• In Event: Justice Issues in Africa and the Middle East

Abstract

The term 'penality' refers to the 'subject matter of the sociology of punishment' (Garland, 2013:476). Yet, it is rarely used to describe punitive penal practices that occur outside of the formal penal system. I argue that these should be included in the study of penality since they demonstrate the 'multi-level nature of punitiveness' (Hamilton, 2014:334) and constitute a definitive part of the penal complex. My empirical data is drawn from an analysis of the banishment practices deployed against those who offend against the 'moral community' in marginalized informal shack settlements in South Africa. I use the term 'precarious penality' to describe penality in marginal areas. The adjective 'precarious' refers to both the abject quality of life on the margins and the instability that characterizes this form of penality - where perceptions of legitimate violence are contested and the boundaries between state and non-state collapse into each other.

References

Garland, D (2013), 'Penality and the Penal State', Criminology, 51(3), 475-517.

Hamilton, C (2014), 'Reconceptualizing Penality, Towards a Multidimensional Measure of Punitiveness, British Journal of Criminology, 54, 321-343.

Author

• Gail Super, University of Toronto