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American Behavioral Scientist
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The Racialization of Crime and Punishment

Criminal Justice, Color-Blind Racism, and the Political Economy of the Prison Industrial Complex

Rose M. Brewer

University of Minnesota at Twin Cities

Nancy A. Heitzeg

College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minnesota

The current explosion in criminalization and incarceration is unprecedented in size, scope, and negative consequences—both direct and collateral—for communities of color. These macro systems exist in relationality to the micro dynamics of living in the midst of police scrutiny, economic marginalization, and political disenfranchisement. Critical race theory is a guide for pedagogy and praxis in exploring the racist and classist foundations of current micro and macro injustices. Using Supreme Court opinions and the voices of political prisoner/prisoners of conscience as evidence of the dominant text and the dissent, this article explores the following issues: the roots of U.S. law, criminal justice, and mass imprisonment in classism and racism; the political economy of the criminal justice system and the prison industrial complex; the intersectionality of injustices rooted in micro and macro systems; and the role of prisoners of conscience/ political prisoners in inspiring resistance to micro and macro injustice.

Key Words: prison industrial complex • color-blind racism • critical race theory • racism and the law • racism and the criminal justice system

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 51, No. 5, 625-644 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764207307745
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