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“Shackles and Chains:” Three Essays on the Determinants and Consequences of U.S. Mass Imprisonment in the Twenty-First Century

Durso, Rachel M
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1405703457

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Sociology.
In the past forty years, the United States has engaged in a punishment system reliant on mass incarceration. Although legislative policies and crime control initiatives that increased imprisonments were established during a period of high crime rates, America has continued to incarcerate at a high rate even as crime rates have declined. Scholars have attempted to explain what accounts for U.S. exceptionalism when it comes to imprisonments and find that a combination of factors including partisanship, race, sentencing severity, and inequality may account for this incarceration (Alexander 2012; Greenberg and West 2001; Keen and Jacobs 2009; Tonry 1999). Scholars have also examined the consequences of locking up so many people such as the effects on state budgets, families, unemployment, citizenship and inequality (Alexander 2012; Behrens, Uggen and Manza 2004; Clear 2009; Wacquant 2001; Western 2006). This dissertation consists of three associated essays that analyze both the determinants and consequences of mass incarceration. In my first essay I examine state spending on corrections. Corrections expenditures have become one of the fastest growing budget items for most states in the past forty years. Yet, few studies focus on the social and political factors tied to these spending increases. This paper uses a panel analysis to examine the determinants of corrections expenditures from 2000 through 2010. Three main relationships are tested: racial threat, partisanship, and death row populations. Even when crime rates and economic factors such as unemployment, median household income, and union strength are held constant, the results show that racial threat and death row inmate populations are associated with increasing corrections expenditures. The findings suggest that large or increasing African American populations continue to be a reliable predictor of criminal justice system expansions, especially in the South. Additionally, the pronounced effect of death row populations on spending increases may call into question whether capital punishment remains a fiscally sustainable punishment option for states. The second essay examines determinants of variation in private prison populations. Since the prison boom has resulted in increased corrections expenditures that tax state budgets, many states have turned to privatization as a potential cost savings measure. The literature also suggests that privatization may be affected by partisanship. Conservative politicians tend to support neoliberal fiscal policies that encourage privatization of government services as well as tough on crime policies that have contributed to the growth the private prison industry. Modern-day private prisons share many similarities with historic convict leasing practices, which suggest that the presence of minority populations may affect a state’s privatization practices, particularly in Southern states. To try to understand the underlying social arrangements that may account for shifts in the private prison population, I conduct a state-level panel analysis from 2000-2012 that measures the effects of racial threat, partisanship, and economic variables on the size of private prison populations. Results indicate that Republican strength and African American populations in the South are associated with increases in privatized prison populations. For my third essay, I examine county-level determinants of prison admissions in Florida. As in previous chapters, I approach this analysis from the perspective of partisanship and racial threat. Using a pooled-time series analysis, I find that African American presence and Republican strength account for increases in prison admissions over a ten year period between 2001 and 2010. Additionally, I examine the effects of drug courts on admission rates. Prior research suggests that drug courts decrease prison populations by diverting drug offenders from the criminal justice system and offering them rehabilitation opportunities. These offenders tend to have lower rates of recidivism when compared to drug offenders who serve a standard prison sentence (Peters and Murrin 2002). As expected, the presence of a drug court within a county has a negative effect on prison admissions.
David Jacobs (Advisor)
Ryan King (Committee Co-Chair)
Paul Bellair (Committee Member)
183 p.
Criminology; Sociology
Prisons; Incarceration; Race; Racial Threat; Privatization; Partisanship; Politics; Government

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Citations

  • Durso, R. M. (2014). “Shackles and Chains:” Three Essays on the Determinants and Consequences of U.S. Mass Imprisonment in the Twenty-First Century [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1405703457

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Durso, Rachel. “Shackles and Chains:” Three Essays on the Determinants and Consequences of U.S. Mass Imprisonment in the Twenty-First Century. 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1405703457.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Durso, Rachel. "“Shackles and Chains:” Three Essays on the Determinants and Consequences of U.S. Mass Imprisonment in the Twenty-First Century." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1405703457

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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