Michelle Brown Social Justice Theory

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Carcelity Thanusia Kamaleswaran SOCI3450 Second Critical Paper. The carceral system in modern society is a complicated institution that reflects injustice and inequality while also bringing together the complexity of race, power, and justice. Critical Race Theory (CRT) offers a valuable lens for understanding this phenomena, allowing researchers to investigate the complicated network of structural racism, intersectionality, and resistance that constitute carcerality. This paper examines the complexities of race, power, and justice within the carceral system using two seminal works: Michelle Brown's "Visual Criminology and Carceral Studies: Counter-Images in the Carceral Age" and Ruth Wilson Gilmore's "Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, …show more content…

She exposes the role of racial prejudices inside institutions in perpetuating inequities in law enforcement, sentencing, and rates of imprisonment. Advocates against prisons see them as instances of state-endorsed aggression impacted by racial elements and call for their dismantlement as a component of a wider social justice movement. Brown's theory aligns with the viewpoint of anti-prison advocates, emphasizing the systemic disparities that form the basis of imprisonment and the operation of punitive authority. Anti-prison advocates advocate for fundamental changes to address the underlying reasons for imprisonment, rather than just adopting modifications within the current system. “The movement, involving immigration, labor, environmental, racial, class, gender, and sexual justice, is deeply intimate, expressing grief and loss to disrupt mass incarceration.” (Brown, 2014, #178) Michelle Brown's study on counter-images and resistance in confronting prison narratives is of utmost importance. She analyzes the utilization of visual media by underrepresented populations to challenge conventional notions and promote fairness. Brown's work is pertinent to the struggle against mass imprisonment, which specifically targets achieving racial, socioeconomic, gender, and sexual equality. She underscores the potency of protest art and documentary photography in challenging power hierarchies and raising the voices of underprivileged persons. Brown pushes for a reevaluation of justice that gives priority to the perspectives of marginalized groups, highlighting the deep anguish and deprivation experienced by both incarcerated individuals and their loved ones.

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