Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration

Calls for criminal justice reform have mounted since the 2007 publication of Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration, largely because of high profile incidents of racism and racialized violence. Black Lives Matter (BLM), a decentralized movement highlighting racial inequality, emerged in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager visiting a family friend in Sanford, Florida (Baldwin). The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter spread on social media and BLM gained national recognition the following year after the police killing of two Black men: Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City. Both incidents spurred protests across the United States.

Racial tensions reached a breaking point in the spring of 2020, during nationwide COVID-19 lockdowns. On May 25, 46-year-old George Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for over nine minutes (Hill et al). Floyd was unarmed, handcuffed, and lying face-down on the pavement at the time. Bystanders recorded the incident and tried to intervene when Floyd complained of being unable to breath. Floyd’s death fueled mass demonstrations throughout 2020 (