An empirical examination of institutions and cross-country incarceration rates

D’Amico, Daniel J.; Williamson, Claudia R.

doi:10.1007/s11127-018-00629-5

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although police size non-significance cannot be explained by a focus on crime control vs. due process models, and is inconsistent with what was expected based on conflict theory or a systems perspective, these findings are consistent with some discussion and findings in the literature (D'Amico & Williamson, 2019;Kleck & Barnes, 2014;Ruddell & Thomas, 2009). When looking at the association between police force size on incarceration, their role may just be too removed from the final outcome/output, in case processing terms, to affect ultimate incarceration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 38%

The Relationship Between Justice System Size and Punishment Across Nations

Mendlein

2021

Int Criminol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nations utilize imprisonment to different extents, but scholars have yet to fully explain why. One hypothesis, proposed here and previously unexamined, is that the size of the front-end justice system workforce (police, prosecution, judiciary) is related to incarceration rates. Previous literature has examined why these workforces are of a certain size, but largely ignores the implications of their size in regards to incarceration. Supported by a conflict perspective and a systems approach, this research examines the relationship between justice system workforce size and incarceration rates cross-nationally, controlling for other relevant factors supported by the literature. The study relies on a compilation of data on 47 countries from several international databases, with United Nations Surveys on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) as the primary sources for main variables of interest. Findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between prosecution workforce size and incarceration rates in the sample of countries examined, and a weaker, likely indirect, negative relationship between judiciary size and incarceration rate. No relationship between police personnel size and incarceration rate is found. The paper also discusses study limitations and implications for future comparative research on incarceration.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 38%

The Relationship Between Justice System Size and Punishment Across Nations

Mendlein

2021

Int Criminol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, among different types of criminal activity, homicide is more likely to trigger the most severe form of state punishment and is therefore a conservative estimate of criminal behavior that leads to incarceration. As we note above, homicide rates are a common proxy for criminal behavior, and studies uniformly find a positive effect on incarceration rates (D’Amico and Williamson 2015, 2019a; DeMichele 2014; Jacobs and Kleban 2003; Neapolitan 2001; Ruddell and Urbina 2004, 2007; Sutton 2000, 2004). Thus, we argue that homicide rates are likely the single best measure to estimate the relationship between crime and incarceration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…This is far greater than the corresponding cross‐national variation in crime rates, which suggests the importance of other factors for shaping the size of prison populations around the world (Ruddell and Urbina 2007). Nevertheless, studies usually include homicide rates in their models as a proxy for criminal behavior and uniformly find a positive effect on incarceration rates (D’Amico and Williamson 2015, 2019a; DeMichele 2014; Jacobs and Kleban 2003; Neapolitan 2001; Ruddell and Urbina 2004, 2007; Sutton 2000, 2004).…”

Section: The Criminological Kuznets Curvementioning

confidence: 99%

The Iron Cage of Development: A Cross‐National Analysis of Incarceration, 2000 – 2015

Clark

Herbolsheimer²

2021

Sociological Forum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Comparative studies on incarceration rely heavily on demand‐based explanations, suggesting that prison rates are driven by sentencing practices and the criminalization of certain activities. In turn, such theories are often tested against the backdrop of factors that regulate the supply of offenders and facilities. We agree that supply and demand factors may be proximate causes of prison population sizes, but that socio‐economic development is central to shaping the larger narrative. In this study, we identify a “criminological Kuznets curve,” whereby the association between incarceration rates and economic development is curvilinear, reaching its peak among middle‐income countries. Drawing from a sample of 680 observations across 111 countries during the 2000 – 2015 period, we find that incarceration is strongly associated with factors rooted in development, including crime rates, the age structure of the population, and democratization. We find that human rights conditions are positively associated with incarceration, which we interpret as a shift away from more severe forms of punishment (e.g., death penalty, torture) as societies modernize. Meanwhile, the effects of several other predictors (government expenditures and income inequality) are conditioned by a country’s level of development. Finally, when adding country fixed effects, we show that economic growth increases prison rates among low‐income countries, but reduces them among affluent nations, which directly contributes to the criminological Kuznets curve. Overall, we conclude that prison populations are shaped by both supply and demand factors, but that development processes help organize these relationships.

show abstract

“…Studies have thus far evaluated these issues at the international and national levels. As D'Amico and Williamson (2019) outline in their examination of the issue, the results of these studies are mixed. Additionally, scholars have proposed that the rise of neoliberal institutions over the past several decades has resulted in increased crime and criminal activity, though empirical research has found either a negative or no significant relationship between economic freedom and crime (Bjørnskov 2015; Stringham and Levendis 2010).…”

Section: Literature Review and Theoretical Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, while similar research has considered how a given jurisdiction's political, economic, or legal institutional environment might shape incarceration across countries (D'Amico and Williamson 2015, 2019) and across state's prison populations (Pfaff 2012), little has been done to address this question at the local level. We therefore contribute to these strands of the literature by looking specifically at MSA jail data (derived from county‐level data) across the United States between 1972 and 2017 and how economic freedom and institutional environments that promote economic opportunity and growth might influence such incarcerations.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutions and incarceration: The role of economic freedom at the MSA level

Dove

2023

Social Science Quarterly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We evaluate the relationship between economic freedom and incarceration at the U.S. metropolitan statistical area level. Method: We use economic freedom data at the metropolitan statistical area unit and local incarceration data from the Vera Institute in 5-year intervals from 1977 through 2017. Results: Our evidence suggests that greater economic freedom is associated with lower rates of incarceration in jails for the overall population. The channel tends to be through both the first and second economic freedom components ("size of government" and "taxation," respectively). Finally, the results for juvenile incarcerated populations are largely driven by labor market freedoms. Conclusion:To the extent that reducing incarceration rates continue to be viewed as a positive outcome in line with recent trends, this study suggests that promoting laws and policies aimed at enhancing economic freedom could be an avenue to advancing that goal. For proponents, this policy implication has the rare advantage of bipartisan appeal.

show abstract

An empirical examination of institutions and cross-country incarceration rates

Cited by 4 publications

References 70 publications

The Relationship Between Justice System Size and Punishment Across Nations

The Relationship Between Justice System Size and Punishment Across Nations

The Iron Cage of Development: A Cross‐National Analysis of Incarceration, 2000 – 2015

Institutions and incarceration: The role of economic freedom at the MSA level

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About