Leblond Alyssa 2020 Thesis.Pdf
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To Remove and Replace? Examining Discourses in Support of and Opposition to Elite Efforts to Transform Community Housing into a Transcarceral Space by Alyssa Leblond Bachelor of Arts (honours with distinction), Simon Fraser University, 2018 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Criminology Faculty of Social Sciences © Alyssa Leblond, Ottawa, Canada, 2020 Copyright in this work rests with the author. Please ensure that any reproduction or re-use is done in accordance with the relevant national copyright legislation. ii Abstract Through engaging with hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses surrounding the Province of Ontario’s Community Housing Renewal Strategy (CHRS), this thesis examines the ways in which the criminalization and social assistance systems continue to be reimagined in ways that perpetuate inequality. The CHRS legislates the exclusion of criminalized individuals from accessing community housing. Drawing on Marxian punishment theory, the role of structural inequality as the foundation of such a policy is explored. A total of 150 documents comprise the final dataset; this includes newsprint media items, reports produced by non-governmental organizations, and Hansard transcripts. The analysis reveals a total of seven themes, which highlight how the CHRS is largely legitimized based on the principle of lesser eligibility. Through the hegemonic discourses, the recomposition and extension of the penal apparatus into the community housing sector is observed. Moreover, purveyors of counter- hegemonic discourses further illustrate this through highlighting the way in which the CHRS represents a state mechanism used to reproduce poverty and perpetuate its criminalization. In conclusion, future directions for research aiming to dismantle exclusive and punitive policies are suggested. Keywords: prisoner re-entry; community housing; transcarceration; poverty; Marxism; abolitionism iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank the many individuals who contributed to the successful completion of this thesis. First and foremost, thank you to my supervisor Dr. Justin Piché. It has truly been a privilege to work alongside you over the past two years. Thank you for introducing me to the world of critical criminology and abolitionism. Your passion, dedication, and vision have inspired me in many ways. Thank you for your always timely and thorough comments which continuously pushed my thinking to the next level and in ways I had never previously considered. Your encouragement and support have allowed me to grow both as an individual and as an academic, and for that I am extremely grateful. I also wish to thank Dr. Steve Bittle and Dr. Chris Bruckert for generously offering their time and expertise. Your constructive and thoughtful assessment of this thesis provided valuable insights which ultimately deepened the quality of my analysis. I am extremely grateful to you both. To the many other professors who have encouraged me and shared their own passions with me ⎯ Dr. David Joubert, Dr. Maritza Felices-Luna, Dr. Cheryl Webster, and Dr. Sylvie Frigon ⎯ thank you for making the University of Ottawa a comfortable learning environment and for introducing me to a world of criminology much different than I experienced previously. Last but certainly not least, I wish to thank my parents for their unconditional love and support. Thank you both for always being there for me (even when distance did not permit visits) and for encouraging me to wholeheartedly pursue my goals. iv Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................. v List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. vii List of Acronyms ........................................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 1 1.1. The CHRS in context ............................................................................................................1 1.2. Focus of the study.............................................................................................................. 12 1.3. Chapter overview ............................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2. Literature review ................................................................................................... 15 2.1. On prisoner ‘reintegration’, ‘resettlement’, and re-entry .................................................... 17 2.1.1. Prisoner ‘reintegration’................................................................................................ 18 2.1.2. Prisoner ‘resettlement’ ................................................................................................ 19 2.1.3. Prisoner re-entry ......................................................................................................... 19 2.2. Populist punitiveness and the rise of neoliberalism .......................................................... 21 2.3. The collateral consequences of incarceration ................................................................... 26 2.3.1. Direct and indirect symbolic consequences ............................................................... 27 2.3.2. Social consequences.................................................................................................. 29 2.3.3. Health consequences ................................................................................................. 31 2.3.4. Economic consequences ........................................................................................... 33 2.4. The barriers to prisoner re-entry ........................................................................................ 37 2.5. Transcarceration and prisoner re-entry ............................................................................. 41 2.6. The role of the Penal Voluntary Sector in prisoner re-entry .............................................. 45 2.7. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 3. Theoretical framework ......................................................................................... 52 3.1. Radical criminology ............................................................................................................ 52 3.2. Marxian punishment theory ............................................................................................... 54 3.3. Applicability of Marxian punishment theory ....................................................................... 61 Chapter 4. Methodological approach .................................................................................... 64 4.1. Epistemological considerations ......................................................................................... 65 4.2. Positionality ........................................................................................................................ 66 4.3. Data collection ................................................................................................................... 68 4.4. Thematic analysis .............................................................................................................. 73 4.5. Coding ................................................................................................................................ 76 4.6. Ethical considerations ........................................................................................................ 78 4.7. Limitations and justifications .............................................................................................. 78 Chapter 5. Findings and discussion...................................................................................... 81 5.1. Global presentation of the findings .................................................................................... 82 v 5.2. Community housing as a transcarceral space .................................................................. 85 5.3. “Not to punish, but to protect”: Community safety, utilitarianism, and the politics of fear 87 5.3.1. Utilitarianism ............................................................................................................... 89 5.3.2. The politics of fear ...................................................................................................... 90 5.4. “It has become the norm in this province”: Conceptualizing a ‘real’ versus ‘comfortable’ crisis 94 5.4.1. Conceptualizing a ‘real’ crisis ..................................................................................... 95 5.4.2. Conceptualizing a ‘comfortable’ crisis ........................................................................ 96 5.5. Social housing as an economic, moral, and social imperative ....................................... 101 5.6.