Christopher D. Berk. “Investment Talk: Comments on the Use of the Language of Investment in Prison Reform Advocacy.” Carceral Notebooks 6 (2010): 115–129.

Published version: Link
Preprint: SocArXiv

Overview

This essay analyzes the growing tendency to justify penal reform in the language of economic investment. Advocates often argue that spending on rehabilitation, education, or reentry will generate future savings by reducing crime and incarceration. While rhetorically powerful, this framing carries important political and moral implications.

The article argues that investment language can subtly reshape how reform is understood. By emphasizing efficiency and return, it risks sidelining questions of justice, responsibility, and democratic obligation. The piece invites readers to consider what may be lost when punishment is defended primarily through fiscal calculation.

Central Question

What happens to the moral and political meaning of reform when punishment is framed as an investment strategy?

Contribution

This essay contributes to debates in:

  • politics of punishment
  • neoliberal governance
  • economic reasoning in public policy
  • rhetoric of reform

Who might find this useful?

Scholars working on:

  • cost-benefit approaches to criminal justice
  • political economy of incarceration
  • normative critiques of reform discourse

Related work by the author

Suggested citation

Berk, Christopher D. 2010. “Investment Talk: Comments on the Use of the Language of Investment in Prison Reform Advocacy.” Carceral Notebooks 6: 115–129.

[Cite with BibTeX]
@article{berk2011investment,
  title={Investment talk: Comments on the use of the language of investment in prison reform advocacy},
  author={Berk, Christopher D},
  journal={Carceral Notebooks},
  volume={6},
  pages={115--129},
  year={2011}
}