Mass Incarceration and Prison Apologetics

Abstract

Over the last two decades a plethora of critical scholarship has sought to understand the phenomenon of mass incarceration, largely focusing on problems grounded in social and economic structures of western society. Within criminology, this research remains on the margins of the discipline. Being quintessential to production of knowledge around ‘crime’ and punishment, mainstream criminology plays a significant role in informing how the general public understands the problem of mass incarceration. This thesis grapples with the role of ‘prison apologetics’, which can be understood as a discursive formation that circulates within mainstream criminology and works to normalise mass incarceration. Utilising a cultural framework, this thesis challenges some of the common-sense assumptions produced in mainstream criminology around ‘crime’ and criminal justice. Critical discourse analysis is adopted to interrogate 50 mainstream criminology articles. Three significant thematic findings arose from the analysis. First are the various constructions of ‘the criminal’, as either ‘pure evil’ or ‘other’, which are used to legitimate confinement of certain populations. Second is the prioritisation of economic reasoning and profit over human life and suffering. Third, the discourse supports ‘positive reform’ in order to uphold blind faith in prison. This thesis proposes a challenge to ‘justice’ language utilised in mainstream criminology that mystifies the contemporary criminal justice system and extends upon critical scholarship towards decarceration and prison abolition.