David Skarbek on Prison Gangs and the Social Order of the Underworld

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2015

⏱️ 76 minutes

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Summary

David Skarbek of King's College London and author of The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern The American Penal System talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the written and unwritten rules in America's prisons for the most violent and dangerous criminals. Skarbek explains how and why prison gangs emerged in the last half of the 20th century, their influence both inside and outside of prisons, and how their governance structure is maintained.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.2	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done
0:23.1	going back to 2006.
0:25.4	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:27.4	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.4	Today is March 13th, 2015, and my guest is David Scarbeck of Kings College, London.
0:38.4	He is the author of The Social Order of the Underworld, How Prison Gangs Gover in the American Penal System.
0:45.4	David, welcome to Econ Talk.
0:47.4	Thanks very much.
0:48.4	So I'm going to warn listeners this episode of Econ Talk may be a lot more disturbing than are usual fair if you're listening.
0:54.4	With young children, you may want to preview before you share it with them.
0:58.4	I forget what the language is in the movie.
1:05.4	I think it's a thematic, PG-13 for thematic material or something like that.
1:10.4	So I just wanted to let people know up front that there may be some disturbing images or conversation here.
1:21.4	This is a really incredible book.
1:23.4	I was utterly fascinated by it.
1:27.4	I learned an immense amount way too much, actually, about prisons.
1:33.4	I say that with tongue and cheek.
1:35.4	It's really, you've done an incredible job.
	...

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