Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-d5ftd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-10T20:10:56.809Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Politics, Prisons, and Law Enforcement: An Examination of the Emergence of “Law and Order” Politics in Texas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Michael C. Campbell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the rise of “law and order” politics in Texas, providing an in-depth archival case study of changes in prison policy in a Southern state during the pivotal period when many U.S. states turned to mass incarceration. It brings attention to the important role an insurgent Republican governor and law enforcement officials played in shaping crime policy. Law enforcement's role is considered within a broader examination of political strategy during a period of intense socioeconomic volatility. The findings suggest that within particular political contexts, especially those with low levels of political participation, law enforcement agents might play a key role in shaping punishment.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 631 - 665
Copyright
© 2011 Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

This research would not have been possible without funding by Grant 0752153 from the National Science Foundation. As well as support from the University of California, Irvine's Chancellor's Club, which greatly facilitated the project's progress and I am grateful to both for their financial support. I would like to thank Valerie Jenness and the anonymous reviewers and editors for kindly reading previous drafts and providing the insightful comments that made the article better. My deepest thanks goes to Kitty Calavita, whose diligence, intellectual precision, mentorship, and encouragement helped me refine the article.

References

References

Balz, Dan (1981) “Top Two Texas Officials Feud Over Prison Ruling,” 28 Feb. Washington Post: A8.Google Scholar
Balz, Dan (1983) “Texas Democrats Hail Return to Power,” Washington Post: A3.Google Scholar
Barker, Vanessa (2009) The Politics of Imprisonment: How the Democratic Process Shapes the Way America Punishes Offenders. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckett, Katherine (1997). Making Crime Pay: Law and Order in Contemporary American Politics, New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Beckett, Katherine & Sasson, Theodore. (2000) The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.Google Scholar
Biggart, James (1980). “Announcing makeup of Anti-Crime Legislation.” Office memo from James Biggart to Governor William P. Clements, 12 Sept. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Blankstein, Andrew, & Winton, Richard (2010) “Judge Won't Halt Early Release of Orange County Jail Inmates,” Los Angeles Times. Accessed 19 Feb.Google Scholar
Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice (1982) Meeting Agenda Material, Initial Meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice, prepared by the staff of Governor William P. Clements. 1982 Blue Ribbon Commission Files, Texas State Library and Archives, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce (1997) Gross Domestic Product by State (millions of current dollars). Washington, DC. Online data access tool. Available online at http://www.bea.gov/iTable/index_regional.cfm.Google Scholar
Campbell, Randolph B. (2003) Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, M. C. (2009). Agents of Change: Prisons, Politics, and Law Enforcement in California and Texas. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Criminology. Law & Society, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carwight, (1981) From the William P. Clements archives, office memo dated 1/22, from Carwright to Robert C. Flowers. Memo titled “Governors Anti-Crime Package”.Google Scholar
Clements, William P. (1981a) Draft Letter from the Office of Governor William P. Clements to Criminal Justice Professionals. Austin, TX, From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Clements, William P. (1981b) “Letter to Media Regarding Anti-Crime Package,” From Office of Governor William P. Clements, Austin, TX, From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Clements, William P. (1982) “Notes for Governor Clements, Initial Meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice,” edited by staff. Austin, TX. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Clements, William P. (1988) “Statewide Criminal Justice Hearings to Start in Austin,” From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Clements, William P. (1988) “Purpose of the Texas Criminal Justice Summit,” office document regarding planning for the summit meeting. No author listed. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Criminal Justice Task Force [multiple authors] (1988). “Criminal Task Force Hearings” [Information taken from the compiled meeting minutes of the Criminal Justice Task Force hearings,, From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Curry, Bill (1978) “With Republican Governor, Texas Is a Two-Party State,” 9 Nov. Washington Post: A2.Google Scholar
Dallas Times Herald (1986b) “Face up to the prison issue,” editorial, 1 Dec.Google Scholar
Dean, David A. (1980) Anti-Crime Package, Memo to Governor William P. Clements, 17 Sept., Austin, TX. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Dean, David A. (1981a) “Mailout to Criminal Justice Community Regarding Development of 1983 Anti-Crime Package,” 15 Sept. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Dean, David A. (1981b). Office memorandum to Governor William P. Clements, July 1. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
> Dallas Times Herald (1986a) “Another Horror story,” editorial, May 21: A28.+Dallas+Times+Herald+(1986a)+“Another+Horror+story,”+editorial,+May+21:+A28.>Google Scholar
Ellis, Virginia (1987) “There's No End in Sight for TDC Overcrowding,” 4 Aug. Dallas Times Herald.Google Scholar
Ellis, Virginia & Rice, Dale (1985) “Prison Board Chief Quits, Blasts White,” 28 Aug. Dallas Times Herald.Google Scholar
Federal Bureau of Investigation (2011) Bureau of Justice Statistics Uniform Crime Reports as Prepared by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data. Reported Crime in Texas. http://bjsdata.ojp.usdoj.gov/dataonline/Search/Crime/State/RunCrimeStatebyState.cfm 9 (accessed 28 June 2011). Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation.Google Scholar
Foxhall, Nene (1986) “GOP's Get-out-the-Vote Push Gives Clements Sweet Revenge in the Rain,” 5 Nov. Houston Chronicle, section 1:1.Google Scholar
Garland, David (1990) Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garland, David (2001) The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilmore, Ruth Wilson (2007) Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.Google Scholar
Gottschalk, Marie (2006) The Prison and the Gallows: The Politics of Mass Incarceration in America. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Haberman, Carol R. (1981) Letter from Judge, 45th Judicial District Court, Bexar County, to Governor William P. Clements Austin, TX. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Hastings, Karen (1988a) “Overcrowding in State Prisons Subject of Talks,” 3 Feb. Fort Worth Star Telegram.Google Scholar
Hastings, Karen (1988b) “Overcrowding in State Prisons Subject of Talks,” 18 Feb. Fort Worth Star Telegram.Google Scholar
Hastings, Karen (1988c) “Overcrowding in State Prisons Topic of Summit,” 3 Feb. Fort Worth Star-Telegram:13.Google Scholar
Hobbs, Frank, & Stoops, Nicole (2002) U.S. Census Bureau, Demographic Trends in the 20th Century: Census 2000 Special Reports: Series Censr-4, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Houston Chronicle (1987) “Vote Nov. 3 for All Eight Build Texas Amendments,” editorial, 28 Oct.Google Scholar
Joint Committee on Prison Reform of the Texas Legislature (1974) “Final Report of the Joint Committee on Prison Reform of the Texas Legislature,” Texas Legislature, Austin, TX. Texas State Library and Archives, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
Johnson, Gordon (1980) Letter from Sheriffs’ Association of Texas to Governor William P. Clements, 7 Feb. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Kercher, Glen A., Jeffords, Charles R., & Dull, R. Thomas (1980). Legislative Proposals about Crime and Criminal Justice. Survey Research Program, Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas.Google Scholar
Keyssar, Alexander (2000) The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Kilday, Anne Marie, Raul Reyes, (1986) “White, Clements Swap Charges over TDC as Hance makes it official,” 31 Jan. Houston Chronicle: p. 8.Google Scholar
Kilday, Anne & Robison, Clay (1986) “Clements Revels in Comeback,” 6 Nov. Houston Chronicle, Section 1, p. 1.Google Scholar
King, Wayne (1982) “Plain Old-Fashioned Politics,” 4 Nov. New York Times: 24A.Google Scholar
Lynch, Mona (2010) Sunbelt Justice: Arizona and the Transformation of American Punishment. Stanford, CA: Stanford Law Books.Google Scholar
Makeig, John (1986) “Shooting of 2 Officers Underscores Crisis Involving Paroling of Convicts,” 1 Nov. Houston Chronicle, Section 1.Google Scholar
Manza, Jeff, & Uggen, Christopher (2006) Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, Steve, & Ekland-Olson, Sheldon (1987) Texas Prisons: The Walls Came Tumbling Down. Austin, TX: Texas Monthly Press.Google Scholar
McDonald, Michael P. (2009). Voting Rates 1980–2000, http://elections.gmu.edu/voter_turnout.htm. (accessed 7 March 2010).Google Scholar
Miller, Lisa L. (2008) The Perils of Federalism: Race, Poverty, and the Politics of Crime Control. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, Joshua (2011) The “Toughest Beat” : Politics, Punishment, and the Prison Officers Union in California. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perkinson, Robert (2010). Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Rice, Dale (1988) “Advocacy Groups Criticize Prison Summit Meeting: Participants Back Clements’ Position Coalition Says,” 20 Feb. Houston Post.Google Scholar
Richards, Clay (1982) “Campaign ‘82 Extra: A $15 million race for Governor in Texas,” United Press International.Google Scholar
Savelsberg, Joachim J. (1994) “Knowledge, Domination, and Criminal Punishment,” 99 American J. of Sociology 911–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoenfeld, Heather (2010) “Mass Incarceration and the Paradox of Prison Conditions Litigation,” 44 Law & Society Rev. 731–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, Rider (1988) Letter to Norma Joe Williams, The Milestone of the Texas Criminal Justice Summit,” Subject: Statement on the Criminal Justice Summit. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Simon, Jonathan (2007) Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Mark (1987) “Clements Signs Anti-Crime Bills,” 18 June San Antonio Express: A19.Google Scholar
Smith, Sherry (1988) “Summit Mailing,” office memorandum from Sherry Smith to Rider Scott, 4 March. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Teske, Raymond H. C. (1980) Texas Crime Poll, Spring 1980 Survey. Sam Houston State University. From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Texas Criminal Justice Summit (1988) Report to Governor William P. Clements Jr., From the Papers of Governor William P. Clements, Jr., Cushing Library, Texas A & M University.Google Scholar
Tonry, Michael (2004) Thinking about Crime: Sense and Sensibility in American Penal Culture, Edited by Tonry, M. and Morris, N. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
The Texas Prosecutor (1990) “Current TDCAA Membership Report,” July/August: 13.Google Scholar
Wacquant, Loïc (2001) “Deadly Symbiosis: When Ghetto and Prison Meet and Mesh,” 3 Punishment & Society 95–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Max. 1922/1946. “Economy and Society,” in Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, translated, and with an introduction by H. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Walmsley, R. (2003). World Prison Population List, 4th edit. London: King's College, London: International Centre for Prison Studies.Google Scholar
White, Mark (1983) “Affidavit Regarding Prison Overcrowding,” 14 Oct. From the Papers of Governor Mark White, Texas State Library and Archives, Austin, TX.Google Scholar
White, Mark (1984) “1985 Criminal Justice Plan,” 2 Feb. From the Papers of Governor Mark White, Texas State Library and Archives, Austin, TXGoogle Scholar
Zimring, Franklin, Hawkins, Gordon, & Kamin, Sam (2001) Punishment and Democracy: Three Strikes and You're Out in California. New York Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Ruiz v. Estelle, 503 F.Supp. 1265. (1980).Google Scholar