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Questioning the economic conditions-imprisonment link: A methodological review of the political economy of punishment's empirical literature

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Punishment & Society

Published online on

Abstract

Punishment & Society, Volume 28, Issue 2, Page 373-408, April 2026.
The relationship between economic conditions and imprisonment has long been debated in the political economy of punishment, with scholars, inspired by Rusche and Kirchheimer (1939), examining whether economic downturns increase incarceration rates. ...