The Instrumentalization of Criminal Law in Autocratic Legalism

Abstract

Ahmed F. Alanazi*

This manuscript examines the complex and often fraught relationship between crime governance, criminal justice systems, and democratic governance. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Foucault to social contract theory, comparative penology, and empirical studies of mass incarceration, it argues that the administration of criminal justice is not merely a technical or legal matter but a fundamental test of democratic vitality. The manuscript explores how mass incarceration functions as a form of anti-democratic socialization, how comparative analysis reveals divergent trajectories of punitiveness tied to political culture and welfare state structures, how police accountability deficits threaten democratic legitimacy, how transitional justice mechanisms navigate the fraught terrain between truth and accountability, and how contemporary reform movements seek to re-democratize criminal justice. It concludes that the failures of criminal justice, from unchecked prosecutorial power to racially disparate enforcement to the normalization of carceral logics in everyday governance, are not merely policy failures but constitute democratic failures. Reimagining justice along genuinely democratic lines requires confronting punitive populism, expanding participatory mechanisms, reining in carceral power, and embracing the messy, contested, and essential work of building institutions that are accountable, equitable, and worthy of public trust.

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