Carceral Intent

For decades, scholars across disciplines have examined the stark injustice of American carceralism. Among that body work are analyses various intent requirements embedded in constitutional doctrine governs state’s power to incarcerate. These include “deliberate indifference” standard Eighth Amendment, which regulates prison conditions, and “punitive intent” due process jurisprudence, scope confinement. This Article coins term “carceral refer collectively those legal examines critically role carceral shaping maintaining deep-rooted structural racism sweeping harms America’s system begins by tracing origins carceralism, focusing on modern prison’s relationship white supremacy post-Emancipation period U.S. history. The then turns incarceration, synthesizing categorizing law intent. Then, drawing upon critical race scholarship anti-discrimination concept “white innocence,” compares law’s reliance with discriminatory equal protection jurisprudence. Critical theorists long critiqued intent-focused antidiscrimination as incapable remedying inequities. same can be said incarceration. preoccupation an alleged wrongdoer’s “bad challenges conditions incarceration makes it ill-suited system’s profoundly unjust harmful features. A curative approach, this asserts, is one focuses effect rather than intent, others argued context protection. While such approach will not remedy full would a start.