Book review: Anastasia Chamberlen, Embodying Punishment: Emotions, Identities, and Lived Experiences in Women’s Prisons
| Author | Diana Miranda |
| DOI | 10.1177/1362480619871111 |
| Published date | 01 November 2020 |
| Date | 01 November 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
708 Theoretical Criminology 24(4)
criminal justice personnel to monitor and gather information on young black men with-
out the legal constraints common to street-level encounters. Law enforcement may then
select incendiary online material, which represents only one side of the code-switching
dynamic, thereby exaggerating the criminality of targets. Prosecutors, for example, use
this information to control and sell a narrative to grand juries that are willing to believe
such violent depictions of youth are objectively real, which fuels indictments. Lane dis-
cusses these topics without denying the reality of violence in his research site, as there
was a series of shootings leading up to these prosecutions. Violence also diminished after
the prosecutions. He does suggest, however, that the use of social media by law enforce-
ment produces a large quantity of questionable evidence that is rarely examined in court.
Between 2011 and 2014, for example, the New York City District Attorney’s Office
charged 198 defendants in seven indictments that relied on social media evidence to con-
nect groups (“gangs”) to gun violence. One-hundred-eighty-six (94%) of these defend-
ants pled guilty so that the evidence in their cases received little attention from defense
attorneys and judges.
The Digital Street covers multiple topics that are integral to community life, noting
that social media has redefined social relationships and social control mechanisms in
urban communities. Lane positions his coverage of these topics within a symbolic inter-
actionist framework that emphasizes the importance of identity development through
social performance that is consumed by an audience and produces real consequences for
teenagers and young adults. Lane’s ability to systematically examine these topics with
qualitative data produces a convincing argument. The Digital Street is essential reading
material for anyone studying or interested in urban communities, violence, gangs, social
media, gender dynamics, youth development, and social control.
Anastasia Chamberlen, Embodying Punishment: Emotions, Identities, and Lived Experiences in
Women’s Prisons, Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2018; pp. 288: 9780198749240, £70.00
Reviewed by: Diana Miranda, Keele University, UK
Sykes’ (1958) seminal work has inspired several scholars to explore the long-lasting
effects and pains of imprisonment (see, for instance, Crewe, 2011; Liebling and Maruna,
2005). Sixty years after the publication of The Society of Captives, Chamberlen’s book
gives voice to the punished bodies in order to comprehend the lived experience of impris-
onment. This book provides a much-needed reflection on how imprisonment is experi-
enced through the body and the effects it has on women’s lives and identities. By
reflecting on the subjective understanding of women’s experiences in prisons, the author
portrays punishment as an embodied and gendered experience. Indeed, the bodies are
central as they ‘materially and physically sense and feel punishment’ (p. 56).
Departing from a phenomenological understanding of women’s experience of impris-
onment, this book explores the role played by their bodies, emotions and identities, both
theoretically and empirically. From a theoretical perspective, the author is focused on
their embodied lived experience and, influenced by Merleau-Ponty (1962), approaches
the body from a cultural phenomenological account. The embodiment of imprisonment
To continue reading
Request your trial