The Penology of Racial Innocence: The Erasure of Racism in the Study and Practice of Punishment

• Published in: Law & society review 2010-09, Vol.44 (3-4), p.695-730
• Main Authors: Murakawa, Naomi, Beckett, Katherine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bias; Civil rights; Civil Rights - economics; Civil Rights - education; Civil Rights - history; Civil Rights - legislation & jurisprudence; Civil Rights - psychology; Civil rights movements; Crime; Criminal arrests; Criminal Justice; Criminal Justice Policy; Criminal law; Criminal Law - economics; Criminal Law - education; Criminal Law - history; Criminal Law - legislation & jurisprudence; Criminal punishment; Criminal sentencing; Drug related crimes; Equal rights; History of medicine; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Human Characteristics; Inequality; Judicial Role - history; Judicial system; Penal policy; Penology; Politics; Power; Power relations; Prisons; Punishment; Punishment - history; Punishment - psychology; Race; Race Relations - history; Race Relations - legislation & jurisprudence; Race Relations - psychology; Racism; Science; Social Conditions - economics; Social Conditions - history; Social Conditions - legislation & jurisprudence; Social Problems - economics; Social Problems - ethnology; Social Problems - history; Social Problems - legislation & jurisprudence; Social Problems - psychology; Social Responsibility; Social sciences; Sociology of law; Statistical methods; Studies
• ISSN: 0023-9216; 1540-5893
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-5893.2010.00420.x

In post-civil rights America, the ascendance of "law-and-order" politics and "postracial" ideology have given rise to what we call the penology of racial innocence. The penology of racial innocence is a framework for assessing the role of race in penal policies and institutions, one that begins with the presumption that criminal justice is innocent of racial power until proven otherwise. Countervailing sociolegal changes render this framework particularly problematic. On the one hand, the definition of racism has contracted in antidiscrimination law and in many social scientific studies of criminal justice, so that racism is defined narrowly as intentional and causally discrete harm. On the other hand, criminal justice institutions have expanded to affect historically unprecedented numbers of people of color, with penal policies broadening in ways that render the identification of racial intent and causation especially difficult. Analyses employing the penology of racial innocence examine the ever-expanding criminal justice system with limited definitions of racism, ultimately contributing to the erasure of racial power. Both racism and criminal justice operate in systemic and serpentine ways; our conceptual tools and methods, therefore, need to be equally systemic and capacious.