No Way Out: Crime, Punishment and the Limits to Power

No Way Out: Crime, Punishment and the Limits to Power
Bichler, Shimshon and Nitzan, Jonathan. (2012). Real-World Economics Review Blog. 21 November. (Article - Magazine; English).

This is the latest version of this eprint.

Full Text Available As:

Preview	Cover Image 20121121_bn_no_way_out_rwerb_front.jpg Download (46kB) \| Preview
	HTML (Full Text) 20121121_bn_no_way_out_rwerb.htm Download (180kB)
	Other (Excel data for the figures) 20121121_bn_no_way_out_rwerb.xlsx Download (144kB)

Alternative Locations

https://rwer.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/no-way-out-crime-punishment-and-the-limits-to-power/

Abstract or Brief Description

The United States is often hailed as the world's largest 'free market'. But this 'free market' is also the world's largest penal colony. It holds over seven million adults – roughly five per cent of the labour force – in jail, in prison, on parole and on probation. Is this an anomaly, or does the 'free market' require massive state punishment? Why did the correctional population start to rise in the 1980s, together with the onset of neoliberalism? How is this increase related to the upward redistribution of income and the capitalization of power? Can soaring incarceration sustain the unprecedented power of dominant capital, or is there a reversal in the offing?