Document Type
Article
Publication/Presentation Date
January 2008
DOI
10.1177/0002764207307745
Abstract
The current explosion in criminalization and incarceration is unprecedented in size,scope, and negative consequences—both direct and collateral—for communities ofcolor. These macro systems exist in relationality to the micro dynamics of living in themidst of police scrutiny, economic marginalization, and political disenfranchisement.Critical race theory is a guide for pedagogy and praxis in exploring the racist and classistfoundations of current micro and macro injustices. Using Supreme Court opinionsand the voices of political prisoner/prisoners of conscience as evidence of the dominanttext and the dissent, this article explores the following issues: the roots of U.S. law,criminal justice, and mass imprisonment in classism and racism; the political economyof the criminal justice system and the prison industrial complex; the intersectionality ofinjustices rooted in micro and macro systems; and the role of prisoners of conscience/political prisoners in inspiring resistance to micro and macro injustice.
Recommended Citation
Brewer, Rose and Heitzeg, Nancy, "The Racialization of Crime and Punishment: Criminal Justice, Color-Blind Racism, and the Political Economy of the Prison Industrial Complex" (2008). Sociology Faculty Scholarship. 10.
https://sophia.stkate.edu/sociology_fac/10
