Grasping structural racism from the field

Case study of the French carceral system

Resumo

Based on a review of literature and field studies in penal institutions, this article proposes ways of analyzing the effects of racializing (di)visions (re)produced by justice actors in France today as in the past. While structural racism leads non-White youth to be over-incarcerated, they become the scapegoat of dysfunctions and failures of the (para)carceral system as the motor of its extension and
hardening. Linking the criminal justice system to the national slavery and colonial enterprise helps us see the historical role of the State in this racially selective violence and seize the trickledown racism at play on the field, from higher-level officials to subordinate employees, targeting young poor afro-descendants and defining their trajectories.