Legal Control of Marginal Groups

Abstract

The legal control of marginal groups is a central topic in social scientific and legal scholarship. Examining the most influential research produced over the past two decades, as well as a broad collection of foundational and exemplary texts, this review addresses two overarching questions: First, what does it mean to study the legal control of marginal groups in the twenty-first century? Second, what are the recent developments, lingering concerns, and future directions of this work? We identify and examine the two most prevalent discussions found in contemporary research. The first centers on the practices of legal control, and the second focuses attention on the effects of these practices on their potential targets. Throughout the article, we draw specific attention to the need for future studies to more systematically account for the agency of, and ground-level dynamics impacting, both the controllers and the controlled.