Commodified inequality: Racialized harm to children and families in the injustice enterprise

Abstract

AbstractThis article addresses the systemic racialized harm of a vast injustice enterprise, with a focus on the symbiotic operations of agencies and justice systems monetizing vulnerable children and families, including the impact of contractual revenue schemes uncovered in my new book, Injustice, Inc. Our foundational justice systems are permeated by a history of racial injustice, and that history reverberates into factory‐like operations that churn children and the poor into revenue. The revenue‐generating mechanisms used by juvenile and family courts, prosecutors, probation departments, police, sheriffs, and detention facilities all draw the concerning historical connection—interlinked with the practices of child and family agencies—as the institutions abdicate their ethical and constitutional requirements in order to commodify inequality.