Mass decarceration: A critical social history

为什么社会要这样惩罚？为什么这些惩罚制度会发生变化，有时甚至是戏剧性的变化？本研究通过对1970年至1998年间爱尔兰共和国妇女大规模分离的考察，以一种新颖的视角探讨了这些理论和历史问题。在20世纪50年代的爱尔兰，抹大拉洗衣店和母婴之家是刑事系统的一部分，占爱尔兰人口的1%以上，这一惊人的比率甚至超过了斯大林时期的俄罗斯和美国目前的大规模监禁率（O'Sullivan and O'Donnell 2007）。根据1951年的人口普查数据，爱尔兰每10万名男性中有37人在监狱，而每10万名女性中有193人在洗衣店或家庭。这项研究将在1970年至1998年期间研究这些地点。这是因为这些机构中的妇女人数从20世纪70年代开始急剧减少，最后一家机构于1998年关闭。这些机构衰落的历史尚未得到充分探讨。虽然这是一项历史研究，而且距离上次关闭已经过去了20多年，但这个问题又回到了政治议程上，这不仅突出了我们为什么需要这项研究，而且突出了我们为什么现在需要它。因此，这不是一个过去时代的历史不公正问题，而是属于我们现在的一个严重的社会问题。我们如何解释爱尔兰在20世纪最后几十年的税收制度，它的存在和消亡？目前的解释倾向于自上而下的理论，强调天主教控制的结束和经济变化（O'Donnell and O'Sullivan 2012; Inglis 1998）。但问题依然存在。这些结构性转变是如何影响爱尔兰刑罚制度的实际变化的？从这个角度来看，这是一个文化和社会历史的问题：这些制度是如何经历的？他们是如何被理解和证明的？1970-1998年间，人们对越轨行为和惩罚合法性的根深蒂固的看法发生了怎样的变化？缺少的是经历过这些机构的人的描述。这项研究将通过恢复那些作为囚犯和工作人员经历过“洗衣店和家庭”的人被遗忘的声音，深入介绍爱尔兰共和国惩罚和大规模隔离的社会历史。该项目的研究结果还将为理解文化变革与刑罚改革之间的关系提供更广泛的理论知识，这是惩罚社会学中发展不足的一个领域。尽管人们越来越多地承认爱尔兰的惩罚性历史，但那些经历过这种禁闭的人的描述却被最小化，甚至被审查。目前，爱尔兰政府正试图在75年内对母婴之家和抹大拉洗衣店申诉委员会的任何文件进行保密（表面上是为了保护匿名）。因此，这里提出的这种历史也是重要和及时的，具有广泛的当代相关性。通过揭示爱尔兰的刑罚状况，这项研究也为记忆政治做出了贡献。这项研究分为四个阶段。在第一阶段，将进行一项跨学科的文献审查，以绘制1970-1998年的经济趋势、文化潮流和社会景观。历史研究从第二阶段开始。这将包括档案研究和对经历过1970年代母婴之家和抹大拉洗衣店的人的口述历史采访。在第三阶段，将使用文化社会学框架来分析档案和访谈数据，为爱尔兰的快速大规模分离提供第一个接地分析。第三阶段几乎与第四阶段同时进行。与有意愿的参与者、艺术家和制作人合作，该项目将为被遗忘的声音提供一个平台，并通过制作戏剧和广播节目，为公众和政治对话做出贡献，讨论爱尔兰的不公正历史。

Why do societies punish as they do? And why do these systems of punishment change, sometimes dramatically? This study explores these theoretical and historical questions by pursuing an original perspective, examining the mass decarceration of women in the Republic of Ireland between 1970-1998. In 1950s Ireland, Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes were part of a penal system that held over 1% of the Irish population, a staggering rate that outstrips even such outliers as Stalinist Russia and the current rate of mass incarceration in the United States (O'Sullivan and O'Donnell 2007). Based on the 1951 census data, for every 100,000 men in Ireland 37 were in prison, while for every 100,000 women 193 were contained at a Laundry or Home. This research will study these sites between 1970-1998. This is because the numbers of women in these institutions began to wane dramatically from the 1970s, with the last site closing in 1998. The history of the decline of these institutions has not yet been fully explored. While this is historical research, and more than 20 years has passed since the last site closed, this issue has returned to the political agenda, highlighting not only why we need this research, but why we need it now. This is therefore not an issue of historical injustice from a bygone era, but a serious social matter that belongs to our present.How do we explain Ireland's carceral system in the last decades of the twentieth century, both its existence and demise? Current explanations favour top-down theories, stressing the end of Catholic control and economic changes (O'Donnell and O'Sullivan 2012; Inglis 1998). But questions remain. How did these structural transformations effect actual change in Ireland's penal system? Posed this way, this is a question of cultural and social history: how were these institutions experienced? How were they understood and justified? And how did deeply held views on deviance and the legitimacy of punishment alter between 1970-1998? What is missing are the accounts of people who experienced these institutions. The study will present an in-depth social history of punishment and mass decarceration in the Republic of Ireland by recovering the forgotten voices of those who experienced Laundries and Homes, both as inmates and staff. The project findings will also contribute broader theoretical knowledge to understanding the relationship between cultural change and penal transformation, an area which is under-developed in the sociology of punishment.Despite a growing acknowledgment of Ireland's punitive past, the accounts of those who experienced this confinement have been minimised and even censored. Currently, the Irish government is seeking to make any files that pertain to Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries' redress boards inaccessible for 75 years (ostensibly to protect anonymity). A history of the kind proposed here is therefore also important and timely and has wide contemporary relevance. By shining a light on Ireland's penal landscape, this study is also contributing to the politics of remembering.The research has four stages. During stage one an interdisciplinary literature review will be developed to map the economic trends, cultural currents and social landscape from 1970-1998. The historical research begins in stage two. This will involve archival research and oral history interviews with people who experienced Mother and Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries from the 1970s. During stage three a cultural sociology framework will be used to analyse the archival and interview data, providing the first grounded analysis of Ireland's expediated mass decarceration. Stage three runs almost concurrently with stage four. Working with willing participants, artists and producers, this project will provide a platform for forgotten voices, and contribute to the public and political conversation about Ireland's history of injustice by producing theatre and radio shows.