Privilege and Punishment in an Era of Mass Incarceration – Nov 4

Posted by Temple University Public Policy Lab on October 26, 2021

Join us for Public Policy Lab’s 2021-2022 Colloquium Series, Privilege and Punishment in an Era of Mass Incarceration with Matthew Clair on November 4, 2021, 12:30-1:50 PM, via Zoom. Dr. Matthew Clair is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University.

The number of Americans arrested, brought to court, and incarcerated has skyrocketed in recent decades. Criminal defendants come from all races and economic walks of life, but they experience punishment in vastly different ways. How and why is the criminal court process unequal? This talk draws on findings from Dr. Clair’s book Privilege and Punishment: How Race and Class Matter in Criminal Court (Princeton University Press, November 2020). Drawing on fieldwork and interviews in the Boston court system, he shows that lawyers and judges often silence, coerce, and punish disadvantaged defendants when they try to learn their legal rights and advocate for themselves. These dynamics reveal how unwritten institutional and organizational norms devalue the exercise of legal rights among the disadvantaged, and that ensuring effective legal representation is no guarantee of justice. Drawing on other research and activism on the courts as an instrument of racialized social control, he concludes with reflections on how we might reimagine the criminal courts in relation to the movement to abolish police and prisons.

Register.

Order a copy of Dr. Clair’s book, Privilege and Punishment: How Race and Class Matter in Criminal Court, and receive a 30% discount from Princeton University Press by using the code MCPAP at checkout.

Click here to order your copy now!