The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society
States increasingly look to incarcerated individuals as a source of revenue to alleviate the fiscal burden of incarceration, which results in suing prisoners for these costs. Through lawsuit complaints, states claim they have suffered damages and seek reimbursement from incarcerated individuals thro...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Russell Sage Foundation
2022-01-01
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| Series: | RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences |
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1819279687582482432 |
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| author | April D. Fernandes Brittany Friedman Gabriela Kirk |
| author_facet | April D. Fernandes Brittany Friedman Gabriela Kirk |
| author_sort | April D. Fernandes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | States increasingly look to incarcerated individuals as a source of revenue to alleviate the fiscal burden of incarceration, which results in suing prisoners for these costs. Through lawsuit complaints, states claim they have suffered damages and seek reimbursement from incarcerated individuals through pay-to-stay fees. Drawing from an original dataset consisting of 102 civil complaints from Illinois, we examine how the state constructs damage, harm, and willfulness through pay-to-stay lawsuits. We find that the state achieves this beneficial outcome by labeling incarcerated individuals as willful nonpayers and thereby morally responsible for what it terms damages suffered. Our empirical and theoretical contributions position civil lawsuits as part of imagining incarcerated individuals as fiscally responsible for their incarceration within a rent-seeking society, contextualizing the social linkages between willfulness, legal moralism, and perpetual indebtedness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-24T00:31:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9d681b1868574e5dbbbc2c593ec940ab |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2377-8253 2377-8261 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-24T00:31:52Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Russell Sage Foundation |
| record_format | Article |
| series | RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-9d681b1868574e5dbbbc2c593ec940ab2022-12-21T17:24:15ZengRussell Sage FoundationRSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences2377-82532377-82612022-01-018182105https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2022.8.1.04The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking SocietyApril D. Fernandes0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7948-7637Brittany Friedman1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8868-9134Gabriela Kirk2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1084-2394North Carolina State UniversityUniversity of Southern CaliforniaNorthwestern UniversityStates increasingly look to incarcerated individuals as a source of revenue to alleviate the fiscal burden of incarceration, which results in suing prisoners for these costs. Through lawsuit complaints, states claim they have suffered damages and seek reimbursement from incarcerated individuals through pay-to-stay fees. Drawing from an original dataset consisting of 102 civil complaints from Illinois, we examine how the state constructs damage, harm, and willfulness through pay-to-stay lawsuits. We find that the state achieves this beneficial outcome by labeling incarcerated individuals as willful nonpayers and thereby morally responsible for what it terms damages suffered. Our empirical and theoretical contributions position civil lawsuits as part of imagining incarcerated individuals as fiscally responsible for their incarceration within a rent-seeking society, contextualizing the social linkages between willfulness, legal moralism, and perpetual indebtedness.monetary sanctionspay-to-staywillful nonpayerlabelinglegal moralismrent-seeking |
| spellingShingle | April D. Fernandes Brittany Friedman Gabriela Kirk The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences monetary sanctions pay-to-stay willful nonpayer labeling legal moralism rent-seeking |
| title | The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society |
| title_full | The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society |
| title_fullStr | The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society |
| title_full_unstemmed | The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society |
| title_short | The “Damaged” State vs. the “Willful” Nonpayer: Pay-to-Stay and the Social Construction of Damage, Harm, and Moral Responsibility in a Rent-Seeking Society |
| title_sort | damaged state vs the willful nonpayer pay to stay and the social construction of damage harm and moral responsibility in a rent seeking society |
| topic | monetary sanctions pay-to-stay willful nonpayer labeling legal moralism rent-seeking |
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