“Eugenics And The Carceral State: Progressive Era Reform And The Creation Of The Modern Criminal Justice System”

The title of this post is the title of this new paper authored by Laura Appleman now available via SSRN. Here is its abstract:

The intersection of eugenics and Progressive Era reform in the late 19th and early 20th centuries played a crucial but often overlooked role in shaping America’s modern criminal justice system.  This Article examines how racism, eugenics, and psychiatric theory combined to create systems of classification and control that still influence our infrastructure of criminal law and punishment today.  While Progressive Era reformers sought to modernize the criminal system, their efforts were deeply influenced by eugenic theories, which fundamentally transformed criminal courts, sentencing practices, and criminology.  Although scholars have extensively analyzed contemporary mass incarceration, the Progressive Era’s complex legacy — particularly how its reforms, rooted in eugenic thinking, have contributed to our current systemic problems — remains understudied.  By illuminating this forgotten history, this Article aims to provide insights that could help reform our troubled carceral state.