Laura Appleman on Disability & Mass Incarceration

In this episode, Laura I. Appleman, Van Winkle Melton Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law, discusses her article "Deviancy, Dependency, and Disability: The Forgotten History of Eugenics and Mass Incarceration," which will appear in the Duke Law Journal. Appleman explains the history of the concept of "disability" and how it has often led to incarceration, at one time in asylums and today in penitentiaries. Among other things, she describes how the concept of disability has changed over time, and how those changes have intersected with ideological, political, and policy shifts. And she discusses how disability, primarily in the form of mental illness, plays a critical role in contemporary mass incarceration. She also makes suggestions for reform, focused on rehabilitation, rather than punishment. Appleman is on Twitter at @lawandlitprof.

Keywords: mass incarceration, institutionalization, eugenics, carceral state, disabled

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