Violence, Poverty, Values, and the Will to Punish
This chapter argues that Fassin’s analysis should be expanded in three ways. First, Fassin should take greater account of how the unlawful state violence he rightly deplores is nonetheless frequently produced in response to violent criminal acts. Losing sight of the underlying problem of criminal violence in poor and marginal communities can make it harder to see how reform might be possible, by reducing the problem to one of arbitrary labeling (and subsequent punishment) of certain kinds of conduct. Second, while Fassin notes the connections between vulnerability to state violence and poverty, it would be worth paying more attention to the way economic inequality dehumanizes certain subjects and makes them more vulnerable objects of state abuse. Social analysis should be humanizing, in response. Third, Fassin should express positive value commitments to those latent in his critique as a guide to reform.