Liminal Punishment and the Specter of Jail

ABSTRACT Poverty governance literature details how systems of control loom over marginalized populations as a form of social management. In this paper, I contribute a theory of liminal punishment to explain one form of poverty governance that uses tools of control enacted on individuals or groups who are documented within a system of punishment but have not yet faced adjudication. Through liminal punishment, the state prepares individuals for adjudication by conditioning people into the treatment they should expect when becoming formally enmeshed in the punishment system. Using 58 interviews with people charged with felonies in Chicago’s Cook County, I first show how individuals charged with (and not yet convicted of) a felony face informal punishment via release conditions, financial instability, and interactions with state actors. Then, I illustrate how the constant threat of re-incarceration from state actors creates a specter of jail, or a psychological tool that coerces individuals into performances of deservingness. Finally, I demonstrate how people respond to this specter of jail through severe self-governance, often going beyond the formal regulations required by the state. This work contributes to theories of poverty governance and liminality, as well as empirical work on pretrial release and surveillance.