The Sprawling Punitive Turn, 1993–2001

Although Bill Clinton dialled back the war rhetoric, the punitive turn, measured by incarceration rates, treatment of juvenile “superpredators,” and hardening media treatments of crime, spread more widely over the American landscape. The shift of military resources to crime-fighting was evident in the many closed military bases converted into prison sites and in the Defense Logistics Agency’s handover of discarded military wares to police agencies. And more than ever, loud voices shouted, alleged criminals deserved not merely punishment, but vengeance.