CSUSM Sociology Marginalized Communities Criminalization Essay

Using the texts and various materials from the course, explain what they mean. How might the
criminal [in]justice system be implicated as state-sanctioned violence directed at
communities that are already marginalized? Who does this system serve and how has this
system been justified? Once you have done this, use a multiply marginalized group (working
class Black men/women, formerly incarcerated Latinas, Latinx immigrants, etc.) as an example
to explain how their identities render them hyper-vulnerable to not only criminalization
but to the perpetuation of other structures of oppression (poverty, degradation of their
physical/mental health and wellness, etc.).
A complete answer will discuss, but are not limited to:
? The origins of policing and the historical shifts of the criminal justice system.
? Cite these shifts as demonstrating that crime is a social construction.
? Who historically and contemporaneously benefit from criminalization.
? How and why the state justifies/legitimates mass repression in its various forms.
? How race and poverty are intricately linked to criminalization AND how oppressed
communities have resisted their criminalization.
? An example of a multiply marginalized community and how their identities render them
vulnerable to criminalization and other oppressions.
? A thorough discussion of intersectionality and how it relates to the above.