Local Incarceration as Social Control: A National Analysis of Social, Economic, and Political Determinants of Jail Use in the United States
Local jails occupy a central position in the criminal justice system, and admission and population levels reflect the policies and decisions of multiple system actors. Drawing from a social threat perspective and political framework, this study examines to what extent county-level variation in local...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2023
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| In: |
American journal of criminal justice
Year: 2023, Volume: 48, Issue: 3, Pages: 547-571 |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Summary: | Local jails occupy a central position in the criminal justice system, and admission and population levels reflect the policies and decisions of multiple system actors. Drawing from a social threat perspective and political framework, this study examines to what extent county-level variation in local incarceration is influenced by racial and ethnic heterogeneity, economic inequality, and political conservatism using a nationally representative sample of U.S. jails. This study finds that county-level Black presence and Hispanic presence differentially impact jail use. Specifically, racial threat has a U-shaped curvilinear relationship with local incarceration, and ethnic threat has an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship with jail use. This study reveals the importance of examining the impact of minority threat by assessing the racial make-up of local areas separately from ethnic composition, as well as testing for nonlinear effects. Further, inclusion of counties’ economic conditions and political ideology are critical in more fully accounting for how variations in the local community impact jail use. |
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| ISSN: | 1936-1351 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s12103-022-09682-9 |