Crime, Social Structure and Criminal Punishment: White and Nonwhite Rates of Imprisonment

• NCJ Number: 107900
• Journal: Social Problems Volume: 34 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1987) Pages: 345-361
• Author(s): G S Bridges; R D Crutchfield; E E Simpson
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Revised version of a paper presented at the 1986 meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York.

Annotation

Durkheimian, Marxist, and Weberian theories provide contrasting views of the influences of the social structure of areas and communities on law and the legal process. In light of these theories, we examine how various aspects of community social structure differentially affect criminal punishments administered to whites and nonwhites.

Abstract

Using county-level data from the State of Washington, we regress white and nonwhite rates of imprisonment on measures of crime and arrest rates, county social structure, and court workload. This analysis indicates that nonwhites -- but not whites -- are particularly likely to be sentenced to prison in urbanized counties and in counties with relatively large minority populations. We conclude by presenting material from interviews with justice officials which sheds light on the perceptual and political processes that link structural conditions to patterns of criminal punishment. (Author abstract)