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Economic Conditions and Punishment Severity in Minnesota

Schneider, Lesley Erin

Abstract Details

2018, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Sociology.
Sociologists have long grappled with the influence of economic conditions on the criminal justice system. Prior research has established links between unemployment, economic inequality, and absolute poverty with prison admission rates, net widening of the criminal justice system, and the size of municipal police forces. Similarly, research on the determinants of criminal sentencing suggests that the harshness of punishment a person receives is determined both by aspects of their case, and the social context in which they are embedded. Using over 90,000 cases across 87 counties and 6 years in Minnesota, I estimate a two-level mixed effects logistic regression model and a two-level mixed effects linear regression model, and examine how county level unemployment, economic inequality, and poverty impact the binary decision of whether someone is sentenced to prison, and conditional on that decision, if these factors influence the length of time they are sentenced for. I find that none of the three economic condition variables have a statistically significant effect on the likelihood of a prison sentence. However, the percent of the county living in poverty interacted with county income inequality positively increase one’s likelihood of going to prison (p<.01), but not the length of their sentence. Implications for conflict theory and sentencing are discussed.
Ryan King (Advisor)
59 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Schneider, L. E. (2018). Economic Conditions and Punishment Severity in Minnesota [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1543348790757449

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Schneider, Lesley. Economic Conditions and Punishment Severity in Minnesota. 2018. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1543348790757449.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Schneider, Lesley. "Economic Conditions and Punishment Severity in Minnesota." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1543348790757449

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)