The Correctional Hunger Games

Hadar Aviram

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2016, vol. 664, issue 1, 260-279

Abstract: The California Criminal Justice Realignment is often seen as a sui generis penal experiment in response to a court mandate. However, when examined in a broader context, it can be understood as part of a recession-era institutional effort to reduce prison costs, fueled by a discourse of austerity and financial prudence, which I refer to as “humonetarian.†This article examines Realignment, its predecessor, Senate Bill 18, and its successor, Proposition 47, as examples of humonetarian policy, characterized by a rhetoric of costs and savings; bipartisan support; inmate transference practices; and a focus on nonviolent, low-risk offenders, whose incarceration expenses exceed the risk they pose. The analysis yields two insights: one, the financial context of reform; and the other, the unique, neopopulist California “flavor†of this financial context, which stands in the way of even more effective reform. I end with thoughts about the promise and perils of humonetarianism in the California context.

Keywords: humonetarianism; recession; bipartisanism; incarceration; sentencing reform; political culture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:664:y:2016:i:1:p:260-279

DOI: 10.1177/0002716215599938

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