Racism and the Cultural Politics of Punishment

Justifying (in)justice reveals how processes of ignorance are vital to legitimising punitive and discriminatory criminal justice policy and practices. Focusing on the state’s startlingly harsh response to the English ‘riots’ of 2011, the book draws together unique insights from interviews with prosecutors, sentencers, defence lawyers and policymakers at the heart of the response, alongside analysis of media and political debates. Peacock explores the forms of unknowing that were mobilised to justify and normalise the harsh and inequitable punishment of the ‘rioters’, from amnesia about police racism and Britain’s long history of unrest, to widespread denial about 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 marginalised and racially minoritised communities.