Citation

Jackson H. Crim. Justice Stud. Crit. J. Crime Law Soc. 2014; 27(2): 226-243.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/1478601X.2013.870073

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Guided by the Rusche and Kirchheimer thesis, this study examines variation in incarceration rates across states. Time-series regression analysis is applied to 30 years of state-level data to examine how economic factors interact with aggregate measures of race/ethnicity in predicting rates of incarceration. The analysis indicates that income inequality, not unemployment, is the most salient predictor of incarceration rates. That is, state-level measures of income inequality exert a strong, positive effect on state-level incarceration rates, and this effect is particularly salient in the presence of higher percentages of African-Americans.

Language: en