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Full-Text Articles in Criminology
An Assessment Of Cross-National Variation In Rates Of Incarceration, Ryan E. Spohn, Travis Linnemann
An Assessment Of Cross-National Variation In Rates Of Incarceration, Ryan E. Spohn, Travis Linnemann
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Our theoretical approach compares the relative efficacy of multiple theories of law and social control. From a general social threat perspective, we find that variables reflecting the size of the unemployed youth population and general measures of income inequality have positive impacts on a nation's rates of incarceration. We also find partial support for one of Durkheim's laws of quantitative change and penal evolution, in that, all else equal, nations with a more authoritarian form of government utilize incarceration at a higher rate than their more democratic counterparts. We also find that the institutional anomie perspective, which has previously been …
Investigating Racial Disparity At The Detention Decision: The Role Of Respectability, Don L. Kurtz, Travis Linnemann, Ryan E. Spohn
Investigating Racial Disparity At The Detention Decision: The Role Of Respectability, Don L. Kurtz, Travis Linnemann, Ryan E. Spohn
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
A concern over inequity and the existence of racial disparity of youth served by the juvenile justice system has long been a topic of considerable interest among scholars, policymakers, and court offi cials. Numerous empirical studies undertaken by academics and various public and private organizations have attempted to shed some light on this phenomenon. Research fi ndings on disproportionate minority contact have hardly been uniform, leaving much of this practice unexplained. This study uses data obtained at the detention decision point over a three-year period examining variance in juvenile case processing related to race. Findings suggest that extra-legal factors influencing …