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How the Criminal Justice System Educates Citizens

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  • Benjamin Justice
  • Tracey L. Meares

Abstract

There are at least two central pathways through which the modern democratic state interacts with citizens: public school systems and criminal justice systems. Rarely are criminal justice systems thought to serve the educational function that public school systems are specifically designed to provide. Yet for an increasing number of Americans, the criminal justice system plays a powerful and pervasive role in providing a civic education, in anticitizenry, that is the reverse of the education that public schools are supposed to offer. We deploy curriculum theory to analyze three primary processes of the criminal justice system—jury service, incarceration, and policing—and demonstrate the operation of two parallel curricula within them: a symbolic, overt curriculum rooted in positive civic conceptions of fairness and democracy; and a hidden curriculum, rooted in empty or negative conceptions of certain citizens and their relationship to the state.

Suggested Citation

  • Benjamin Justice & Tracey L. Meares, 2014. "How the Criminal Justice System Educates Citizens," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 159-177, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:651:y:2014:i:1:p:159-177
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716213502929
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Engel, Christoph, 2008. "Learning the law," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(3), pages 275-297, December.
    2. Weaver, Vesla M. & Lerman, Amy E., 2010. "Political Consequences of the Carceral State," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 104(4), pages 817-833, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Megan Dias & Derek A. Epp & Marcel Roman & Hannah L. Walker, 2024. "Consent searches: Evaluating the usefulness of a common and highly discretionary police practice," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(1), pages 35-91, March.
    2. Bruce Western, 2014. "Incarceration, Inequality, and Imagining Alternatives," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 302-306, January.
    3. Michael Leo Owens, 2014. "Ex-Felons’ Organization-Based Political Work for Carceral Reforms," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 256-265, January.
    4. Hedwig Lee & Lauren C. Porter & Megan Comfort, 2014. "Consequences of Family Member Incarceration," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 44-73, January.

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