Abstract
Lerman and Weaver (2014) provide unique insight into the psychological and political impacts of current crime control policies in the United States on those who are most affected by these policies. The authors go beyond the current literature on racial disparities in criminal justice, which typically focuses on statistics and on the legal impacts of disenfranchisement, engaging individuals impacted by criminal justice policy and practice in a dialogue about government, equality and justice. Lerman and Weaver’s qualitative investigation gives rare depth to their findings concerning the racialized impacts of criminal justice in the United States, illustrating both the devastating effects of U.S. crime control policy on democracy and the potential for social change to enhance justice.
Lerman and Weaver provide observations that are incongruent with the common evolutionary view of history in the United States, and thereby contest the view that the United States is on a steady and inevitable progressive march toward greater democracy, enfranchisement, racial and class equality, and justice. Despite notable successes, such as the end of slavery, the end of Jim Crow laws, and greater access by racial minorities to the political process through the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, movements for social and racial justice have not progressed in a consistent linear fashion. They occur in ebbs and flows, against ideological, political, economic, and violent resistance.
Arresting Citizenship offers support for the argument that, beginning in the late 1970s, policies and practices of the criminal justice system have pushed the United States backward rather than forward on the path toward greater democracy and justice. The dramatic and unprecedented increase in surveillance, detention, arrest, and incarceration experienced by people in economically and racially marginalized communities has had a socializing impact that goes beyond the frequently cited statistics, and is deeper and more sinister than legalized disenfranchisement or restrictions. For many of those characterized by Lerman and Weaver as “custodial citizens,” the only experiences they have with the state are negative encounters that profoundly shape their perceptions and behaviors. All they know about government is bad. Based on their lived experience that the government only does them harm, many determine that the best survival strategy is to lay low and become disconnected and invisible.
One of the most disturbing findings from Lerman and Weaver’s research is that this particular type of socialization has led to the stifling of efforts to affect social change and bring about greater social justice. The experiences of custodial citizens with the police, the courts, and corrections have a devastating impact on their sense of citizenship and belonging. Their hopelessness regarding the possibilities for change leads custodial citizens to embrace self-disenfranchisement at every level. The belief that nothing can be done and nothing will change prevents them from engaging in the political process or even in the struggle for justice. Thus, current crime control policies in the United States have a devastating impact on the democratization process as well as on American citizenship. The character of the criminal justice system is essentially antidemocratic, as it undermines the legitimacy of our democratic system and harms us all. Lerman and Weaver’s respondents reveal the myth of American exceptionalism with respect to progress toward a more democratic, equal, and justice society.
The first half of Arresting Citizenship establishes the authors’ point of departure from current literature and theory as Lerman and Weaver present available criminal justice statistics on criminal justice activity. For example, in Chapter 2, “Thinking About Crime and the Custodial Citizen,” the authors provide data to illustrate the dramatic and widespread impact the criminal justice system has on people’s lives, especially when one goes beyond massive incarceration to include the normalization of intensive and targeted police surveillance of people of color in specific neighborhoods. They also argue that the custodial class is not equivalent to the criminal class, thus heightening the negative impact of these contacts. In other words, sweeping police actions throughout economically disadvantaged communities disproportionately populated by people of color draw many people into negative contacts with the police and the criminal justice system regardless of their guilt or innocence.
In Chapter 3, “Democratic Ideals and Institutional Design,” Lerman and Weaver deconstruct current criminal justice policies and institutions by describing how they are antithetical to the claims of the American democratic ideal. The authors do not deny that there have been advances toward greater equality and justice in U.S. history, or that the government has a positive role in society, but rather they posit that current criminal justice practices reflect an erosion of these accomplishments. In Chapter 4, the authors argue that the criminal justice promotes political learning, in that it often shapes the perspectives of custodial citizens about government or the role of the state. Through their lived experiences, custodial citizens’ understanding of democracy and what it means to be a citizen can be molded by the nature of their negative encounters with the criminal justice system as it represents the state.
The second half of the book fleshes out the statistics with qualitative data from a series of interviews, providing evidence to support Lerman and Weaver’s theory of the socializing nature of criminal justice policies and practices. The chapters devoted to the findings from their interview give voice to the custodial citizenry, allowing respondents to describe their experience with the system and how it has shaped their psyche and their behavior. It is through these chapters that the book speaks most powerfully to the reader and provides insight into the unseen damage being done by criminal justice policies to individuals and to our society as a whole. Finally, in Chapter 9, “Where Do We Go From Here,” the authors provide a series of policy recommendations. The importance of this chapter cannot be overstated when it comes to using this book in a classroom. Typically, critical criminal justice theory paints a very bleak picture of criminal justice institutions, policies, and practices, and this book is no exception. However, the education of students is not complete until we show them the pathway out of injustice. In this regard, Lerman and Weaver suggest the following three broad areas for reform: (1) increasing democratic responsiveness and voice, (2) increasing democratic accountability and transparency, and (3) increasing racial equality. For criminal justice scholars and policy makers, the prescription offered by Lerman and Weaver is to confront the antidemocratic criminal justice practices that have produced mass incarceration and to be uncompromising in our commitment to justice reinvestment toward the creation of a criminal justice system that is consistent with our democratic ideals.