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No Way Out: Crime, Punishment and the Capitalization of Power

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  • Bichler, Shimshon
  • Nitzan, Jonathan

Abstract

The United States is often hailed as the world's largest 'free market'. But this 'free market' is also the world's largest penal colony. It holds over seven million adults – roughly five per cent of the labour force – in jail, in prison, on parole and on probation. Is this an anomaly, or does the 'free market' require massive state punishment? Why did the correctional population start to rise in the 1980s, together with the onset of neoliberalism? How is this increase related to the upward redistribution of income and the capitalization of power? Can soaring incarceration sustain the unprecedented power of dominant capital, or is there a reversal in the offing? The paper examines these questions by juxtaposing the ‘Rusche thesis’ with the notion of capitalism as a mode of power. The empirical analysis suggests that the Rusche thesis holds under the normal circumstances of ‘business as usual’, but breaks down during periods of systemic crisis. During the systemic crises of the 1930s and the 2000s, unemployment increased sharply, but crime and the severity of punishment, instead of rising, dropped perceptibly.

Suggested Citation

  • Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2014. "No Way Out: Crime, Punishment and the Capitalization of Power," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 251-271.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:157789
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steven D. Levitt, 2004. "Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors that Explain the Decline and Six that Do Not," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 163-190, Winter.
    2. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2002. "The Global Political Economy of Israel," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157972.
    3. Nitzan, Jonathan, 2001. "Regimes of Differential Accumulation: Mergers, Stagflation and the Logic of Globalization," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 226-274.
    4. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2012. "The Asymptotes of Power," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 60, pages 18-53.
    5. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2010. "Systemic Fear, Modern Finance and the Future of Capitalism," EconStor Preprints 157830, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2002. "New Economy or Transnational Ownership? The Global Political Economy of Israel," EconStor Preprints 157818, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    7. Jeffrey R. Brown & Amy Finkelstein, 2011. "Insuring Long-Term Care in the United States," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 25(4), pages 119-142, Fall.
    8. Kliman, Andrew & Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2011. "Systemic Crisis, Systemic Fear: An Exchange," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue 4, pages 61-118.
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    Cited by:

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    2. McMahon, James, 2015. "What Makes Hollywood Run? Capitalist Power, Risk and the Control of Social Creativity," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 157994, March.
    3. McMahon, James, 2022. "The Political Economy of Hollywood: Capitalist Power and Cultural Production; introduction," EconStor Open Access Book Chapters, in: The Political Economy of Hollywood: Capitalist Power and Cultural Production, pages 1-10, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
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    5. Nitzan, Jonathan & Bichler, Shimshon, 2018. "The CasP Project: Past, Present, Future," Review of Capital as Power, Capital As Power - Toward a New Cosmology of Capitalism, vol. 1(3), pages 1-39.
    6. Bichler, Shimshon & Nitzan, Jonathan, 2014. "The Enlightened Capitalist," EconStor Preprints 157839, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.

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