Criminalization is fueled by what Black feminist scholar Patricia Hill Collins describes as “controlling narratives,”37 or, the racialized, gendered, ableist, xenophobic, and anti-poor narratives branding Black, Indigenous, migrant, low-income, disabled, queer, and trans people as inherently “dangerous criminal classes.”38 As a result, even as criminal laws evolve, populations deemed threats are consistently targeted for containment and control.
