Criminality as a Covert Category of Inequality: A Study of How Criminal Records Deter Individuals from Social Inclusion

This qualitative study examines how criminality, the “criminal” identity, is a covert category of inequality. Like other categories, it is use to facilitate the discrimination of people based on their identity to exclude them from reaching personal goals. Once ushered into a categorical identity of criminality, people can be legally excluded from employment, education, government aid, and voting rights. When the state criminalizes people, they experience social detachment including from their own families. It takes an emotional toll on people due to both social and personal influences. I deploy face-to-face interviews with ten participants to illustrate how being pushed into this classification affects their daily lives. I argue that being labeled by the state as a “criminal” is a covert category similar to other categories of inequality, such as race, gender, age, disability. I pay special attention to how the category of “criminal” intersects with other categories of oppression, leaving the poor, especially people of color vulnerable. Keyword: criminality, hyper-criminalization, hyper-surveillance, youth control complex, school to prison pipeline, convict criminology, social exclusion