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<p>In this article I examine the persistence of punitive penal practices in the Anglophone Caribbean through the lens of path dependence. I argue that contemporary criminal justice systems remain shaped by colonial legal architectures that have been continually reinforced by post-independence political incentives, bureaucratic expansion, and political fear. Drawing on historical criminology,&#xa0;sociolegal&#xa0;scholarship, and institutional theory, I show how summary justice and executive overreach operate as positive feedback mechanisms that entrench colonial practices, even as social and political conditions shift. I also demonstrate how recent judicial decisions function as negative feedback mechanisms capable&#xa0;of disrupting penal inertia and opening meaningful possibilities for decolonial transformation.</p>

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A History of Now: (Re)Historicising Penal Continuities in the Anglophone Caribbean Through Path Dependence Theory

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月30日

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  • Janeille Zorina Matthews

摘要

In this article I examine the persistence of punitive penal practices in the Anglophone Caribbean through the lens of path dependence. I argue that contemporary criminal justice systems remain shaped by colonial legal architectures that have been continually reinforced by post-independence political incentives, bureaucratic expansion, and political fear. Drawing on historical criminology, sociolegal scholarship, and institutional theory, I show how summary justice and executive overreach operate as positive feedback mechanisms that entrench colonial practices, even as social and political conditions shift. I also demonstrate how recent judicial decisions function as negative feedback mechanisms capable of disrupting penal inertia and opening meaningful possibilities for decolonial transformation.