RT Article
T1 Murder in the shadows: evidence for an institutional legitimacy theory of crime
JF International journal of comparative and applied criminal justice
VO 43
IS 1
SP 13
OP 27
A1 Tuttle, James
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1753960509
AB The focus on the institutional control of violent crime has increased over the past few decades, stimulated largely by Messner and Rosenfeld’s “institutional anomie theory.” A related theory, referred to as “institutional legitimacy theory” in this study, has received considerably less attention. This theory, originating in the social control theoretical tradition, is tested in an analysis of homicide rates (circa 2012) across 108 nations. Overall, institutional legitimacy theory receives support as economic, political, familial, and religious institutional legitimacy assist in reducing homicide rates across societies. Most notably, homicide is positively associated with the size of the shadow economy (the measure of waning economic institutional legitimacy), consistent with the hypothesis that parties lacking institutional redress are more likely to use unilateral violence to resolve grievances.
K1 Homicide
K1 Cross-national
K1 Institutions
K1 Shadow economy
K1 Social Control
DO 10.1080/01924036.2017.1397037