Punitive Policies Research Articles

Implementation of State Laws Giving Pregnant People Priority Access to Drug Treatment Programs in the Context of Coexisting Punitive Laws.

In response to increased prenatal drug use since the 2000s, states have adopted treatment-oriented laws giving pregnant and postpartum people priority access to public drug treatment programs as well as multiple punitive policy responses. No prior studies have systematically characterized these state statutes or examined implementation of state priority access laws in the context of co-existing punitive laws. We conducted legal mapping to examine state priority access laws and their overlap with state laws deeming prenatal drug use to be child maltreatment, mandating reporting of prenatal drug use to child protective services, or criminalizing prenatal drug use. We also conducted interviews with 51 state leaders with expertise on their states' prenatal drug use laws to understand how priority access laws were implemented. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have a priority access law, and more than 80% of these jurisdictions also have one of the punitive prenatal drug use laws described. Leaders reported major barriers to implementing state priority access laws, including the lack of drug treatment programs, stigma, and conflicts with punitive prenatal drug use laws. Our results suggest that state laws granting pregnant and postpartum people priority access to drug treatment programs are likely insufficient to significantly increase access to evidence-based drug treatment. Punitive state prenatal drug use laws may counteract priority access laws by impeding treatment seeking. Findings highlight the need to allocate additional resources to drug treatment for pregnant and postpartum people.

Editorial Introduction: Contributing to the policy process literatures

Editorial Introduction: Contributing to the policy process literatures

From Matamoros to Reynosa: Migrant Camps on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Inside the migrant camps emerging and being erased at the U.S.-Mexico border, we glimpse liminal lives crafted by punitive immigration policy yet sustained by hope.

The Politics of Respectability and Black Americans’ Punitive Attitudes

Existing research largely ignores Black support for punitive policies that target group members, even as this support challenges expectations of in-group favoritism and group solidarity. The current research fills this gap by leveraging a familiar concept: “the politics of respectability.” Building on historical and qualitative accounts of this worldview, which focuses on the behavior of group members, I develop a social psychological framework to understand how identity-based concerns motivate Black support for punishment that targets members of their racial group. I also develop a novel measure of respectability–the Respectability Politics Scale. Findings demonstrate that adherents of respectability feel more ashamed about the public view of their racial group, endorse more negative racial stereotypes, and feel relatively less close to other Black people. They are also more likely to support a range of punitive policies that target group members, including restrictive dress code policies, tough-on-crime policies, and paternalistic welfare policies.

Associations between punitive policies and legal barriers to consensual same-sex sexual acts and HIV among gay men and other men who have sex with men in sub-Saharan Africa: a multicountry, respondent-driven sampling survey

Few assessments of associations between structural-level factors and HIV among gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have been conducted, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Our objective was to examine HIV testing history, HIV status, and stigmas among MSM living in ten countries with heterogeneous legal environments. This study used pooled data from ten country-specific, cross-sectional studies done in 25 sites in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Senegal, Eswatini, Rwanda, and Togo. MSM were recruited by respondent-driven sampling and were eligible if they met country-specific requirements for age, area of residence, and self reported being assigned male sex at birth and having anal sex with a man in the past 12 months. Policy related to same-sex sexual behaviour for each country was categorised as not criminalised or criminalised. Countries were also categorised on the basis of recent reports of prosecutions related to same-sex sexual acts. Legal barriers were defined as those that legally prevented registration or operation of sexual orientation related civil society organisations (CSOs). Individual data on HIV testing history, HIV status, and stigma were collected via interviewer-administered sociobehavioural questionnaires and HIV testing. Multilevel logistic regression with random intercepts was used to assess the association between policies, recent prosecutions, legal barriers to CSOs, and HIV-related factors with adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% CIs. Between Aug 3, 2011, and May 27, 2020, we recruited 8047 MSM with a median age of 23 years (IQR 21-27). 4886 (60·7%) lived in countries that criminalise same-sex sexual acts. HIV prevalence among MSM was higher in criminalised settings than non-criminalised settings (aOR 5·15, 95% CI 1·12-23·57); higher in settings with recent prosecutions than in settings without prosecutions (12·06, 7·19-20·25); and higher in settings with barriers to CSOs than without barriers to CSOs (9·83, 2·00-48·30). HIV testing or status awareness was not associated with punitive policies or practices. Stigma was associated with HIV status but did not consistently vary across legal environments. Disparities in HIV prevalence between MSM and other adult men were highest in punitive settings. Structural risks including discriminatory country-level policies, prosecutions, and legal barriers might contribute to higher HIV prevalence among MSM. Taken together, these data highlight the importance of decriminalisation and decreasing enforcement, alongside stigma reduction, as central to effective control for HIV. National Institutes of Health. For the French translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

Resisting subtractive language and literacy policies: Breaking the cycles of loss among bilingual preservice educators

AbstractLiteracy scholars have noted the importance of drawing upon all of one's linguistic resources and experiences to make sense of texts. However, literacy instruction is often shaped by restrictive and punitive policies that limit the learning experiences and opportunities offered to racialized bi/multilingual students from low‐income communities. We illustrate this phenomenon through our experiences as former teachers of bilingual students and as teacher educators in Arizona and Texas, shedding light on the cycles of loss that such policies create and how this loss manifests among preservice teachers. We also reflect on the agency enacted by educators to heal their identities and develop transformative literacy practices.

The Bashagurov Brothers: A Story of Brigandage and Mobility in the Urals, 1789–1792

In 1789, the brothers Ivan and Stepan Bashagurov escaped from prison in Perm. Before their capture two years later, they not only robbed houses and raided boats on the Kama but also worked as wage laborers and traveled to St. Petersburg. Their story does not fit into the traditional understanding of banditry in early modern Russia as a social phenomenon reflecting resistance against the state and nobility. The brothers were neither champions of the poor nor enjoyed sympathy and support in the countryside, as is commonly assumed. Through a detailed reconstruction of their case, this article underscores the seasonal and opportunistic nature of their banditry as well as the complexity of the interactions between the bandits and other members of society, which were shaped by acquaintanceship and kinship, on the one hand, and the Russian government's punitive policies against those who harbored criminals, on the other.

ВІЙСЬКОВО-АДМІНІСТРАТИВНИЙ, ПРАВОВИЙ ЛАД ТА ПОВСЯКДЕННЕ ЖИТТЯ СІЛЬСЬКОГО НАСЕЛЕННЯ ЧЕРНІГІВЩИНИ В 1941–1943 РР.

In the article, the authors comprehensively investigated the features of everyday life of the rural population of Chernihiv Oblast in 1941–1943 under the conditions of the military-administrative and legal system of the occupation authorities. An analysis of the created military-administrative and legal system was carried out on the basis of documentary sources. In the process of working on the article, a number of methods of historical research were used, in particular: the method of periodization, historical-comparative and historical-systemic methods. Attention has been drawn to the fact that during the occupation in the Chernihiv Region, the everyday life of the rural population has changed significantly. The highest manifestation of its deterioration was the burning by the occupiers of more than 60 settlements in the Chernihiv Region. Thanks to the analysis of historical sources and scientific works of a number of scientists, the authors of the article also determined the essential features of the influence of the occupation regime on the everyday life of the rural population of Chernihiv Oblast, analyzed their main components: the activities of field and local commandants, the deployment of repressive measures against the population with the introduced system of punishments from fines, restrictions to shootings and total control over the life and activities of the local population. This punitive policy was, in fact, revenge of the occupiers on civilians for cooperation with the local Soviet partisans. The article gives a number of examples of the destruction of local civilians by German-Nazi invaders on the territory of Chernihiv Region during 1941–1943. It was determined that the occupation regime organized by the invaders led to great human losses among the peaceful inhabitants of villages and small towns, difficult conditions of everyday life due to the introduction by the occupiers of a terrible legal situation of the population and the deportation of people to Germany.

An Occasional Amnesty. How the Siberian Bolsheviks Granted Amnesty to Kolchak Ministers

The article analyses the history of the amnesty granted by the Bolsheviks in 1921–1923 to nine Kolchak ministers led by P. I. Preobrazhensky, G. A. Krasnov, A. A. Gratsianov and N. Ya. Novombergsky, prominent figures of the anti-Bolshevik governments, convicted by the Extraordinary Siberian Revolutionary Tribunal at the open trial in Omsk on 20–30 May, 1920. Based on a wide range of archival sources, the authors have reconstructed the entire pardon process, from the improvements in conditions of detention to the official decision of the VTsIK. Amnesty is considered as a political tool of the Soviet power, which allowed the communist leadership of the country to effectively correct the cruel punitive policy, play the card of restoration of social justice, and win the victims over to its side. It is concluded that the pardon of the Kolchak ministers was an individual but significant component of the process of restoring civil peace in Russia at the end of the internal military-political confrontation. What made this amnesty unusual among the many similar acts announced by the Bolsheviks in 1922–1923 was that not the rank-and-file members of the anti-Soviet struggle were pardoned, but its immediate leaders. The main reason for the rehumanization of former enemies were their personal ties and contacts in the upper echelon of the Soviet leadership in Siberia, which were formed primarily in the course of joint activities. The main criterion for applying the amnesty was the high quality work of the Kolchak ministers in the economic departments of the Siberian Revolutionary Committee under the conditions of severe labor shortage.

Health Inequities Among People Who Use Drugs in a Post-Dobbs America: The Case for a Syndemic Analysis.

Punitive policy responses to substance use and to abortion care constitute direct attacks on personal liberty and bodily autonomy. In this article, we leverage the concept of "syndemics" to anticipate how the already synergistic stigmas against people who use drugs and people who seek abortion services will be further compounded the Dobbs decision.

On the green subsidies in a differentiated market

Government subsidies play an important role in promoting the development of green products. This paper examines the impact of subsidies on competing firms, consumers and the environment in a horizontally differentiated market. Taking all stakeholders into consideration, the optimal subsidy level is solved to maximize social welfare. Compared with the no subsidy case, we show that subsidies always make consumers better, however, this welfare improvement may come at the expense of firm profits and environmental benefits. Specifically, when products are highly substitutable and consumers’ environmental awareness is great, subsidies can induce competing firms to over-invest in green R&D and produce more quantities and thus leading to reduced firm profits. Moreover, subsidies would widen the gap between asymmetric firms, making those firms in a weak competitive position even more disadvantaged. As for the environment, we find that for industries with high levels of emissions per-unit of output, the negative effect of subsidies to induce more production/consumption would dominate the positive effect of the improvement in product greenness, leading to environmental degradation. As a result, subsidies are optimal for clean industries, while punitive policies that limit production and consumption may be more effective for those dirty industries. We also compare ad valorem subsidies and green R&D subsidies, showing that for the same amount of subsidies, an ad valorem subsidy is more in the interest of firms, while consumers are better off under the R&D subsidy policy as it increases the competition in green efforts more directly.

How the Identity of Substance Users Shapes Public Opinion on Opioid Policy

How do media portrayals of potential policy beneficiaries’ identities sway public support for these policies in a public health setting? Using a pre-registered vignette experiment, we show that the racial identity of substance users depicted in news media shapes public opinion on policies to address the opioid crisis. People display biases in favor of their own racial identity group that manifest in their support for both treatment-based policies and punitive policies. We show that these biases may be moderated by the type of initial drug used by a substance user and associated levels of perceived blame. Extending theories of group politics, we also assess favoritism based on gender and residential context identities, but find no such biases. These results highlight the continued centrality of race in the formation of policy preferences.

THE CASE OF THE POLISH MILITARY ORGANIZATION OF THE 1930S IN MODERN HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DISCOURSE

The article examines the historiographical work devoted to the persecution of persons of Polish nationality in the Ukrainian SSR within the Polish Military Organization (PMO) case. Ukrainian, Russian and Polish scholars have tried to reconsider the events of that time, overcoming the remnants of the old bias. The purpose of the study is a historiographical analysis of the process and results of research on the PMO case in the 1930s. The research methods used in the article were selected under the purpose and based on the principle of historicism. They are represented by the general scientific analysis method and special scientific historical-comparative and historical-genetic methods. The application of these methods allowed us to consistently trace the process of formation and development of historical knowledge on the studied issues. The periodization of the government's punitive and repressive policy towards Polish nationals within the PMO case in the 1930s was first proposed. It has been established that Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian scholars have studied the causes, forms, and consequences of the Soviet government's punitive and repressive policies toward Poles within the PMO case and have formed and published a significant corpus of sources. The events were traced to the processes of rehabilitation of convicts and the study of the fate of the families of Polish detainees. It should be noted that the research has great social significance as historians aim to form a public consciousness of the condemnation of Stalin's crimes and the impossibility of an acquittal policy regarding them. Several tasks have been identified that require further research efforts by scientists from different countries.

Reading Behind Bars: Literacy and Survival in U.S. Prison Literature

This paper unpacks the contradiction between the benefits of literacy and the punitive prison policies that seek to curb or regulate reading by beginning with the complicated historical relationship between incarceration and literacy. I then turn to the testimonies of two prominent incarcerated autodidacts who I now regularly teach within my prison literature classes both on my university campus and at a men’s prison. The writings of Malcolm X and Etheridge Knight model the difficulties of negotiating the institutional risks and personal and political rewards of learning to read and write behind bars—particularly while Black. What is more, while literacy may provide an “on-ramp” toward higher education, barriers for incarcerated people continue to proliferate in our current era in the form of book bans, paywalls, and the material conditions of prisons themselves.

The carceral logic of parental responsibility

AbstractObjectiveTo elucidate the institutional logic underpinning the child support system's expectations of parents.BackgroundCompelling parental responsibility through punitive enforcement mechanisms is the central focus of child support system enforcement. Although much is known about noncustodial parents' experiences in the system, less is known about how this site of state intervention shapes the definition and expectations of parenthood and family.MethodObservations in five courts and child support‐related sites were conducted over 18 months. Interviews were also conducted with child support system workgroup members.ResultsThe racialized, gendered, and classed stereotypes that undergird the system's definition of parental responsibility are grounded in controlling images of parenthood and family, prioritizing financial support above any other contributions of parents. Court officials wielded this expectation of parental responsibility to punish—or threaten to punish—noncustodial parents, resulting in significant material and symbolic consequences.ConclusionThe carceral logic of parental responsibility in this site underpins punitive state policies, procedures, and practices around nonpayment of support and other acts of noncompliance, reproducing racialized, gendered, and classed social controls of parenthood and family. As a result of this logic, the child support system plays a significant role in shaping the institutions of parenthood and family, (re)produces the expansion of the carceral state, and contributes to broader family inequality.ImplicationsAddressing family inequality should attend to the pervasiveness of the carceral logic of parental responsibility in the child support system and beyond, which has significantly oppressive consequences for parents and families.

Tempering the Taste for Vengeance: Information About Prisoners and Policy Choices in Chile

Punitive anti-crime policies in the Americas have contributed to steadily increasing rates of incarceration. Harsh penalties are often demanded by citizens, making them attractive to politicians. Yet the contextual determinants of participation in crime are rarely understood by the public. In this article, we employ a survey experiment conducted in Chile in order to examine how the provision of information about the prison population shapes tastes for punitive anti-crime policies. Respondents in the treatment group received information about the low educational attainment of prisoners. This information led to substantial changes in policy preferences. Tasked with allocating resources to anti-crime policies using a fixed budget, treated respondents assigned between 20% and 50% more to socially oriented anti-crime policies (relative to punitive policies) than respondents in the control group, and they reduced their support for “ iron fist” policing. Our findings suggest that providing information to citizens might change the policy equilibrium in the Americas.

Reflections on Criminal Justice Reform: Challenges and Opportunities

Considerable efforts and resources have been expended to enact reforms to the criminal justice system over the last five decades. Concerns about dramatic increases in violent crime beginning in the late Sixties and accelerating into the 1980s led to the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Crime” that included implementation of more punitive policies and dramatic increases in incarceration and community supervision. More recent reform efforts have focused on strategies to reduce the negative impacts of policing, the disparate impacts of pretrial practices, and better strategies for reducing criminal behavior. Renewed interest in strategies and interventions to reduce criminal behavior has coincided with a focus on identifying “what works.” Recent increases in violence have shifted the national dialog from a focus on progressive reforms to reduce reliance on punitive measures and the disparate impact of the legal system on some groups to a focus on increased investment in “tough on crime” criminal justice approaches. This essay offers some reflections on the “Waged Wars” and the efforts to identify “What Works” based on nearly 40 years of work evaluating criminal justice reform efforts.

Review: Refugees and Migrants in Contemporary Film, Art and Media, edited by Deniz Bayrakdar and Robert Burgoyne

Review: <i>Refugees and Migrants in Contemporary Film, Art and Media</i>, edited by Deniz Bayrakdar and Robert Burgoyne

The Pragmatic American Revisited: A Direct Replication of Pickett and Baker (2014).

In 2014, Pickett and Baker cast doubt on the scholarly consensus that Americans are pragmatic about criminal justice. Previous research suggested this pragmaticism was evidenced by either null or positive relationships between seemingly opposite items (i.e., between dispositional and situational crime attributions and between punitiveness and rehabilitative policy support). Pickett and Baker argued that because these studies worded survey items in the same positive direction, respondents' susceptibility to acquiescence bias led to artificially inflated positive correlations. Using a simple split-ballot experiment, they manipulated the direction of survey items and demonstrated bidirectional survey items resulted in negative relationships between attributions and between support for punitive and rehabilitative policies. We replicated Pickett and Baker's methodology with a nationally representative sample of American respondents supplemented by a diverse student sample. Our results were generally consistent, and, in many cases, effect sizes were stronger than those observed in the original study. Americans appear much less pragmatic when survey items are bidirectional. Yet, we suggest the use of bidirectional over unidirectional survey items trades one set of problems for another. Instead, to reduce acquiescence bias and improve overall data quality, we encourage researchers to adopt item-specific questioning.

Racial Threat and Punitive Police Attitudes

Racial Threat Theory posits that punitive attitudes are produced when Whites are alarmed by large or growing Black populations. While research has identified a relationship between Black composition and support from community members for more punitive criminal justice policy, no research has examined whether racial composition influences punitive attitudes among criminal justice personnel—even though they represent a key population that can engage in discrimination. This study advances our understanding of racial threat and police force by examining the relationship between Black population and punitive use-of-force attitudes on the part of police. Using survey and census data for approximately 10,000 police officers in 97 agencies, multilevel analyses reveal that officers report more punitive attitudes in jurisdictions with larger Black populations and that this relationship is concentrated among White police officers. The results provide evidence that racial disparities in police outcomes are at least partly driven by motivational criteria (such as discrimination).