Policing Is Reproductive Oppression: How Policing and Carceral Systems Criminalize Parenting and Maintain Reproductive Oppression

Maya Pendleton () and Alan J. Dettlaff
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Maya Pendleton: upEND Movement, Houston, TX 77204, USA
Alan J. Dettlaff: Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: Since the era of chattel slavery, the state has used institutionalized abuse and violence as a tool for reproductive control. Today, public institutions and social services have been established by the state to police and surveil the behavior of poor communities and parents to maintain the reproductive violence and oppression that began centuries ago. This paper uses a reproductive justice framework to explore how the history of criminalizing pregnancy, surveilling Black and Indigenous communities, and denying reproductive autonomy are connected to and maintained by the present-day family policing system. In doing so, this paper expands on existing literature to create a stronger link and build solidarity between the movements against family policing and reproductive oppression.

Keywords: family policing; child welfare; policing; reproductive justice; criminalization; abolition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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