Book Reviews: Digital punishment: privacy, stigma and the harms of data-driven criminal justice
| Author | Ester Blay |
| DOI | 10.1177/20662203211061862 |
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book Review
European Journal of Probation
2021, Vol. 13(3) 320–325
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/20662203211061862
journals.sagepub.com/home/ejp
Book Reviews
Lageson SE. Digital punishment: privacy, stigma and the harms of data-driven criminal justice. Oxford
University Press: New York, 2020. Hardback ISBN: 9780190872007 (27 euros)
Reviewed by: Ester Blay, University of Girona, Spain
Digital Punishment focuses on criminal records in America in the digital era. Despite their
public nature, the storage of criminal records in paper forms meant they were relatively
shielded. The coming of the digital age, however, has turned data on arrest, prosecution,
convictions and corrections, including names, photographs, birth dates or addresses of
those involved, readily available. Criminal records have become big data, used for
criminal justice purposes but also commodified in the online marketplace and used for
everyday decisions related to employment, education or housing. This book explores
what this form of enduring stigma generated by digital records means for individuals with
a criminal record. It also describes the disorderly generation of an enormous bulk of data
which is commodified and used as a form of surveillance and which amplifies the
consequences of mass criminalization, disproportionately affecting already disadvan-
taged social groups.
The book can be divided into two parts: the first chapters focus on the explanation of
how digital criminal records are generated and disseminated by government and private
sources, and how this technologically driven process has amplified injustices embedded in
the criminal justice system. The second part of the book addresses the multiple harms this
involves for those entangled in the web of digital punishment. Chapters unfold like
seasons from The wire, focusing the readers’gaze on a particular aspect and set of actors
involved in digital punishment.
Chapter 1 describes the digital turn in American criminal justice. It explains how
criminal records are generated in a haphazard and disordered way by a myriad of local
agencies (police, courts, corrections), each with its own set of practices and internal logic.
Demand for these records has grown, facilitated both by digitalization and the availability
of these records, and the punitive turn in criminal record policies. Criminal record policy
in the US, grounded on free speech and the right to information, rather than in other values
such as privacy or due process, has also contributed to this growth. The dimension of
digital criminal records is immense, with about one third of the population in the US
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
