Test of Social Stress Theory as Applied to the Study of Imprisonment Rates

• NCJ Number: 203245
• Journal: Prison Journal Volume: 83 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2003 Pages: 426-441
• Author(s): William L. Selke; Steen A. Andersson
• Date Published: December 2003
• Length: 16 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article represents an effort to build on the models of imprisonment rates using social stress theory as an integrating structure.

Abstract

Research on imprisonment rates is an area of criminological research with clear and direct implications for public policy. The primary purpose of this research was to test the application of social stress theory to the study of imprisonment rates through analyses of the effects of demographic, social stress, and ameliorative variables on rates of imprisonment. In the selection of variables to represent the social stress factor, efforts were made to include a group of variables that captures the various elements of social stress, such as unemployment, poverty, health insurance, and the receipt of welfare benefits. One of the major corollaries of social stress theory is that efforts by States to ameliorate the underlying conditions of stress will lessen the likelihood that crime and mental illness will emerge. The most interesting finding of the study was the significance of the variable measuring prison cost per inmate per year. Conceptualizing this variable as an ameliorative factor with the hypothesized negative relationship with imprisonment rates proved fruitful. The conclusion that States spending more per prisoner per year will have lower rates of imprisonment contributes to the policy debates about the use of the prison sanction. In the reduced model of imprisonment, there was also support found for the social stress theory of imprisonment rates, with the health variable exhibiting a direct impact on imprisonment rates as well as an indirect effect through its significant relationship with crime rates. The finding that prison costs have a direct and significant effect on imprisonment rates is certainly relevant to discussions about the use of the prison sanction and the management of prisons. Evidence from this study supports the notion that funding prisons of appropriate levels to ameliorate the harshness of the sanction, and its aftereffects, will result in lower rates of imprisonment. These findings are consistent with the theory of social stress. 4 tables, 29 references