Graduation Year
2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Criminology
Major Professor
John K. Cochran, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Michael Lynch, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Lorie A. Fridell, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Ojmarrh Mitchell, Ph.D.
Keywords
conflict theory, minority threat, punishment, sociology of law
Abstract
Incarceration rates vary substantially around the world. However, systematic cross-national comparisons examining such variation are rare. Using Donald Black’s theory of law, and further informed by other theories in the sociology of punishment with conceptual overlap, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the structural and cultural factors that influence incarceration rates around the world. Using data from the World Prison Brief, World Values Survey, CIA World Factbook, and other international datasets, this study evaluates a series of ordinary least squares regressions in 66 nations. This study is one of few macrosocial tests of Black’s theory of law to incorporate all theoretical dimensions, and it is the first to model proposed nonlinear relationships. Overall, the results identify multiple social dimensions associated with the scale of carceral systems throughout the world. The results also provide evidence for an “American Exceptionalism” hypothesis of incarceration.
Scholar Commons Citation
Marier, Christopher J., "Cross-National Incarceration Rates as Behavior of Law" (2020). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/8249
