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State prison privatization in the US: A study of the causes and magnitude

Jing, Yijia
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1122571301

Abstract Details

2005, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Public Policy and Management.
In this dissertation I study the causes and magnitude of state prison privatization in the US as a case to explore the privatization of core governmental functions. My theoretical analysis of core governmental functions concludes that their privatization is in general driven by changes in politics, which make it possible to reconceptualize and marketize core governmental functions that are traditionally monopolized by the state. Applying this logic to state prison privatization in the US, conservative social control and neoliberal economic policies are identified as two major forces that drove penal reforms and prison privatization. They overcame the political and moral barriers toward private prisons and created the functional dilemmas of correctional systems and thus the instrumental demand for private prisons. This causality argument is applied to an empirical examination of the influence of political and instrumental factors on the magnitude of state prison privatization among the 50 US states in 2003 by using the Tobit model. The results show that both political and instrumental factors are important for states in deciding the level of dependence on private correctional facilities. While instrumental concerns may have the most direct influence, their influence is often contingent on the political environment. As a conclusion, compared to peripheral functions, the privatization of core governmental functions should be explained by a logic of political economy. The increased participation of the private sector in core governmental areas is fundamentally explained by the political motives of the state to expand its functional scope and to simultaneously reduce its role in direct service production and delivery.
Trevor Brown Bert Rockman (Advisor)
165 p.
privatization; core governmental function; state prison privatization; magnitude of state prison privatization

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Citations

  • Jing, Y. (2005). State prison privatization in the US: A study of the causes and magnitude [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1122571301

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Jing, Yijia. State prison privatization in the US: A study of the causes and magnitude. 2005. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1122571301.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Jing, Yijia. "State prison privatization in the US: A study of the causes and magnitude." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1122571301

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1122571301
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© 2005, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.