Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Illinois and author of Digitize and Punish: Racial Criminalization in the Digital Age, Brian Jefferson joins the WBI show to discuss the history of digital computing and criminal justice, revealing how big tech, computer scientists, university researchers, and state actors have digitized carceral governance over the past forty years.

How did the War on Terror provide the impetus and funding for the NYPD’s to set up a separate proprietary fiber optic cable network for their surveillance infrastructure in the backdrop of historically low crime rates? How are IT companies-that are the equivalent of industrial manufacturing companies in the late 18th century- actively driving urban policies and the physical infrastructure of 21st century smart cities?