Abstract

From the police precinct to the prison plantation, historians of the American Carceral State have scrutinized “the habitual surveillance and incapacitation of racialized individuals and communities” as a defining feature of American criminal law enforcement. This abridged historical review expounds upon the central thesis of “The Mass Criminalization of Black Americans: A Historical Overview” and examines the development of anti-black punitive traditions in American policing that first surfaced in the era of slavery and settler colonization. I argue that colonial police patrols established in the 17th century were foundational antecedents of anti-black order maintenance functions ultimately incorporated by modern municipal police forces throughout the 19th century. By tracing the emergence of town watches and city guards from Boston to New Orleans, this review underscores the evolution of urban police practices originally deployed for the purpose of controlling “savages” and “slaves” throughout revolutionary and antebellum America.

Keywords: Precinct, Colonization, Savages and slaves