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Title: Punitive Politics in the U.S. States

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: Following more than 30 years of rising incarceration rates, the United States now imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any country in the world. In contrast to previous research, this paper argues that an increasingly punitive public was a primary reason for this prolific expansion. To test this hypothesis, I introduce a state-level measure of public support for being tough on crime that extends from 1953 to 2010. The analysis shows that, controlling for the crime rate, inequality, the party in power, and state demographic characteristics, since 1953 punitive attitudes have been a fundamental determinant of changes in state incarceration rates.

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Authors: Enns, Peter K.

Conference Name: Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association

Publisher Location: Chicago, Illinois

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Crime and Deviance

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