Challenges in the Study of Mass Incarceration
From Plantation to Prison: The Origins of American Mass Incarceration
Adaner Usmani, John Clegg
Monday, March 21, 1:00 PM (US CT)
What’s Wrong with Mass Incarceration?
Adaner Usmani, Christopher Lewis
Tuesday, March 22, 12 noon (US CT)
Adaner Usmani is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Social Studies at Harvard University. His research is driven by two questions: Why do some people flourish while others suffer? And, what explains why, in some places but not others, movements or policies emerge to challenge or moderate this inequality? In one project, he explores when and why ordinary individuals manage to coordinate collective action, and how well these patterns explain the forward march of democracy and the extent of economic redistribution. In a different project, he studies the origins and consequences of American mass incarceration.
John Clegg is a Postdoctoral fellow in Economic History at Lund University. He works on the history of slavery and emancipation in the Americas, as well as the formation of the modern carceral state. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from NYU and was Harper Fellow at the University of Chicago.
Christopher Lewis is Assistant Professor at Harvard Law School. His research examines how the law (especially the criminal law) can be more fairly and efficiently administered in response to social and economic inequality in the United States. Before joining the law school faculty, he was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.
Due to COVID-19, all Havens Wright Center events were hosted online via Zoom.