Title: Poor Justice: Case Studies in Punishment and Inequality
The Criminal Justice Research Center is pleased to announce that the 35th Annual Reckless Memorial Lecture speaker will be Dr. Bruce Western. Dr. Western is a sociologist of poverty and inequality whose research examines the social and economic impact of criminal justice policy and incarceration. He is author of two prize-winning books, Homeward: Life in the Year After Prison (2018) and Punishment and Inequality in America (2006) and he co-chaired expert panels for the National Academy of Sciences on COVID-19 in U.S. prisons and racial inequality in the American criminal justice system. Western is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the American Philosophical Society. He was the Bryce Professor of Sociology and Social Justice at Columbia University (2018-2024), professor of sociology and the Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice Policy at Harvard University where he taught from 2007 to 2018, and professor of sociology at Princeton University where he was on faculty from 1993 to 2007. He has been the President of the Russell Sage Foundation since 2025.
Abstract: How is socioeconomic inequality linked to criminal punishment? U.S. research has recently studied this question with a focus on prison incarceration rates. I explore the relationship between punishment and inequality by drawing on recent case studies that go beyond incarceration rates to examine fines and fees, jail incarceration, solitary confinement, and prison reentry. The case studies indicate the great prevalence of punishment among the most disadvantaged. This pattern can be observed, not just in incarceration rates, but from misdemeanor courts to conditions of confinement in maximum security prisons. Disadvantage and marginalization is indicated not just by race and poverty but also by trauma, poor health, and homelessness. In a wide variety of settings for a range of punitive interventions, punishment tends to be disintegrative, weakening social bonds and, in the limit, leading to new cycles of criminalization.
Doors will open at 3:30. The event will be in person and will be held at the Barrister Club, 25 W 11th, Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43201. Food and beverages will be served. Ample parking is available at the Gateway Garage just off of High Street as well as the Union Garages on High Street next to the Student Union. Please RSVP via email to: yanai.7@osu.edu by March 24, 2025. We look forward to seeing you on March 26th.
Support for the CJRC lectures, research and projects can be made at:
https://www.giveto.osu.edu/makeagift/details/302841