Lynchings, Racial Politics, and Prison Admission Rates: Contingent Fixed-Effects Analyses

• In Event: 477 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 08. Inequality and Crime 2

Abstract

U.S. imprisonments increased explosively since the 1970s, yet we have little systematic knowledge about the precise determinants that triggered this unparalleled expansion. Based on the historical record, many scholars suggest that this growth results from hostile racial traditions combined with current racial politics. Racial threat accounts instead suggest that this punishment has been imposed more often in jurisdictions with larger minority populations. This study estimates the explanatory power of both accounts by assessing a statistical interaction between lynching rates in late 19th and early 20th century and current law and order politics along with the size of black populations. With many additional effects held constant, findings from two-way fixed-effects pooled time-series models suggest that the joint influence of lynchings and racial politics together with the threat produced by larger black populations produce enhanced prison admission rates in U.S. states from 1978 to 2011. Such results corroborate both racial accounts.

Authors

• David Jacobs, The Ohio State University

• Chad Malone, The Ohio State University