Calls to end mass incarceration and reform the criminal-legal system are often premised on the introduction of technologies imagined to improve the accuracy, transparency, and accountability of carceral state agencies and enhance public safety. But do public surveillance systems make our communities safer? Are electronic ankle monitors the solution to cash bail? Can body cameras end police violence and prevent misconduct? This course will explore these and other questions by interrogating how carceral technologies—from CCTV and biometric technologies to risk assessment programs and predictive policing—are being deployed to classify, confine, and coerce specific populations. We will discuss the cultural and political-/economic stakes of carceral technology, as well as the question of reform vs. abolition. Together, we will develop an expansive view of “the carceral” by considering how a range of digital technologies extend spaces and logics of confinement into the public sphere, and how these innovations can be resisted and/or reimagined for more liberatory ends.

Course Requirements:

This course is structured around in-class discussions and activities, short written assignments, a midterm essay, and a final project.

Intended Audience:

This course is open and accessible for students across departments and programs—no prior knowledge or experience required! Students interested in critical studies of race, culture, digital media, surveillance, and carcerality are especially encouraged to take this course.