Mass incarceration in times of economic growth and inclusion? Three steps to understand contemporary imprisonment in Brazil

Abstract

Mass incarceration is a phenomenon that emerged in the USA in the 1970s. Since then, this pattern of imprisonment has taken shape in all other continents. Nowadays, many ‘core countries’ have been able to neutralize it and, in some cases, even reverse it. This, however, is not the case in Latin America. In this region, the increase of imprisonment rates has remained intense even in times of economic growth, in contrast to the main theories on punishment developed in the Global North. Drawing on primary and secondary data, I analyse the Brazilian case and indicate three necessary steps to understand contemporary imprisonment in the country. This article is structured in three main sections. I argue first that Brazilian criminologists have asked the wrong question: rather than asking why we have high imprisonment rates now, we should first understand why we had imprisonment rates comparable to Nordic countries up to the 1980s. I then argue we should stop uncritically reproducing northern theories and understand the local conditions of possibility for mass incarceration in times of social inclusion. I finally claim we should change the focus on the players: rather than pointing out to the Executive and Legislative dimensions, we ought to better understand internal struggles in the criminal justice system, considering in particular the pivotal role of judges in the Brazilian mass incarceration.