Bigger Piece of the Pie?: State Corrections Spending and the Politics of Social Order

• NCJ Number: 217097
• Journal: Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 44 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2007 Pages: 91-123
• Author(s): Thomas D. Stucky; Karen Heimer; Joseph B. Lang
• Date Published: February 2007
• Length: 33 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined variations in annual, State-level corrections expenditures as a proportion of total State expenditure from 1980 to 1998 in relation to variables that pertained to partisan politics, racial threats, State economic prosperity, budgetary priorities, and strategies for maintaining social order.

Abstract

The dominant finding of this study was that partisan politics in a State significantly influenced the proportion of State expenditures on corrections. The study found that as the proportion of Republicans in the State legislature increased, so did the fraction of a State's budget spent on corrections. The party of the governor, however, did not affect corrections spending. There was no evidence that the ratio of liberal versus conservative ideology among the citizenry affected corrections spending. States that were more economically prosperous devoted larger shares of their budget to corrections, which parallels the findings of some research on imprisonment trends. States with budget priorities for education and public welfare had lower proportions of correctional spending. Increases in a relatively small proportion of Blacks in a State population were linked to more substantial increases in corrections spending; whereas, increases in a larger Black population showed smaller changes in a State's correctional expenditures. This suggests that as Blacks compose a larger percentage of the electorate, politicians are more responsive to their priorities. The study collected relevant data on the 49 States with bipartisan political systems from 1980 through 1998. The dependent variable was the proportion of total State expenditures devoted to corrections in each fiscal year. The independent variables measured pertained to politics and political ideology, economic prosperity, racial threat, budgetary priorities, crime rates, and imprisonment rates. Control variables focused on demographic characteristics. 2 tables, 23 notes, and 75 references