Understanding the Determinants of Penal Policy: Crime, Culture, and Comparative Political Economy
- 13 January 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Annual Reviews in Annual Review of Criminology
- Vol. 1 (1), 195-217
- https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-032317-091942
Abstract
This review sets out four main explanatory paradigms of penal policy—focusing on, in turn, crime, cultural dynamics, economic structures and interests, and institutional differences in the organization of different political economies as the key determinants of penal policy. We argue that these paradigms are best seen as complementary rather than competitive and present a case for integrating them analytically in a comparative political economy framework situated within the longue dur´ee of technology regime change. To illustrate this, we present case studies of one exceptional case—the United States—and of one substantive variable—race. Race has long been thought to be of importance in most of these paradigms and provides a pertinent example of how the different dynamics intersect in practice. We conclude by summarizing the explanatory challenges and research questions that we regard as most urgent for the further development of the field and point to the approaches that will be needed if scholars are to meet these challenges and answer these questions. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Criminology Volume 1 is January 13, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.Keywords
This publication has 76 references indexed in Scilit:
- Thought Experiments, Intuitions and Philosophical EvidenceDialectica, 2011
- Diffusion, differentiation and resistance in comparative penalityCriminology & Criminal Justice, 2010
- American imprisonment in comparative perspectiveDaedalus, 2010
- Penal populism in New ZealandPunishment & Society, 2005
- Racial Orders in American Political DevelopmentAmerican Political Science Review, 2005
- Crime and Economic IncentivesThe Journal of Human Resources, 2004
- Crime Rates and Local Labor Market Opportunities in the United States: 1979–1997The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2002
- How Unregulated Is the U.S. Labor Market? The Penal System as a Labor Market InstitutionAmerican Journal of Sociology, 1999
- Crime and WorkCrime and Justice, 1999
- Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do About It?Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1996