Racism and the cultural politics of punishment examines the narratives, claims, and imaginaries that legitimise punitive and discriminatory criminal justice policies and practices. Centring on the state’s startlingly harsh response to the English ‘riots’ of 2011, the book combines unique insights from interviews with prosecutors, sentencers, defence lawyers, policymakers with analysis of media and political debates. It examines constructions of the unrest, its causes and how society should respond. In doing so, it explores the forms of ignorance and unknowing mobilised to justify the inequitable punishment of the 'rioters': from amnesia about police racism and Britain's long history of unrest to widespread denial of the violence of the prison system.
Looking to recent events in Britain and beyond, the book offers timely insight into the cultural processes underpinning the punitive systems that disproportionately harm racially minoritised and marginalised communities.