Doctoral Dissertation Research: Punishment in America: A Comparative Historical Analysis of Prison Policy in Three American States, 1970-2000

这个项目考察了各州如何以及为什么采取特定的监狱政策的问题。目前的监禁理论没有考察国家行为者采取监狱政策的过程，社会政策分析人士在很大程度上忽视了惩罚作为一个调查领域。这项博士论文研究将通过对1970年至2000年美国各州监狱政策的采用、变化和变化进行比较历史分析来填补这一空白。研究人员将监禁的做法概念化为一种社会政策，因为像社会福利一样，监禁是国家管理危险人群的一种手段；它是一种影响结构性不平等、失业、贫困和犯罪的国家政策。研究人员采用了一种综合的方法，严重依赖于政治制度主义和以国家为中心的理论框架。监狱政策变化和结果的历史模式对当代惩教政策具有启示意义。

This project examines the question of how and why states adopt particular prison policies. Current theories of imprisonment do not examine the processes by which state actors adopt prison policies, and social policy analysts largely ignore punishment as an area of inquiry. This doctoral dissertation research will fill this gap by developing a comparative-historical analysis of prison policy adoption, variation, and change in the American states from 1970-2000. The researcher conceptualizes the practices of imprisonment as a social policy, because like social welfare, imprisonment is a means by which states manage risky populations; it is a state policy that affects structural inequality, unemployment, poverty, and crime. The researcher employs a synthetic approach that relies heavily on political institutionalist and state--centered theoretical frameworks. The historical pattern of prison policy variation and outcomes has implications for contemporary corrections policy.