Mary Pattillo: Statutory Inequality: The Logics of Monetary Sanctions in State Law

Date: 

Tuesday, April 16, 2019, 3:00pm to 4:30pm

Location: 

William James Hall, 33 Kirkland Street, Room 1550

Department of Sociology - Colloquium Series presentation by Mary Pattillo, Northwestern University.

 

Statutory Inequality: The Logics of Monetary Sanctions in State Law

Abstract:
Who pays for the institutions of the criminal justice system – police, jails, courts, prisons – and how far does the law reach to make people “pay” for their crimes? In this analysis of state law in Illinois, we find that the neoliberal logics of personal responsibility and carceral expansion suffuse criminal laws, establishing the basis for transferring greater costs of government onto criminal defendants, offering little relief for poverty, and supporting severe additional penalties for unpaid debt.