Agency and Autobiography: Key themes in the Systemic Failures of the Criminal Legal System Examined Through Personal Accounts of Incarcerated Individuals
Conference Year
2023
Abstract
This project is a deep exploration of the American carceral system drawing on primary accounts of incarcerated women. Through a close reading of autobiographies, memoirs, and personal accounts of women who experienced incarceration, three key themes emerge: specifically the structural racism of the criminal legal system, access to and quality of healthcare, and arbitrary punishment as a means of enforcing this system. This paper contributes to existing research on the challenges and institutional barriers that women face in their interactions with the criminal legal system, and highlights an important gap in literature on the incarceration of women, particularly underrepresented women.
Primary Faculty Mentor Name
Alec Ewald
Status
Undergraduate
Student College
College of Arts and Sciences
Second Student College
Patrick Leahy Honors College
Program/Major
Political Science
Primary Research Category
Social Science
Agency and Autobiography: Key themes in the Systemic Failures of the Criminal Legal System Examined Through Personal Accounts of Incarcerated Individuals
This project is a deep exploration of the American carceral system drawing on primary accounts of incarcerated women. Through a close reading of autobiographies, memoirs, and personal accounts of women who experienced incarceration, three key themes emerge: specifically the structural racism of the criminal legal system, access to and quality of healthcare, and arbitrary punishment as a means of enforcing this system. This paper contributes to existing research on the challenges and institutional barriers that women face in their interactions with the criminal legal system, and highlights an important gap in literature on the incarceration of women, particularly underrepresented women.