Culture of Honor and Female Incarceration

Abstract

Some states in the U.S. maintain higher than usual rates of female incarceration. Prior research suggests that these incarceration rates are determined by poverty, education, or racial makeup. However, these explanations have not considered the role that culture may play on attitudes towards the punishment of women. Therefore, in two studies, I investigate the role of culture of honor on attitudes towards the incarceration of women. In Study 1, I compared female incarceration rates between states with honor status and non-honor status in the U.S. Honor status predicted female incarceration after controlling for a variety of important covariates. In Study 2, I tested the assumption that endorsement of culture of honor and gender roles interact to predict attitudes towards the incarceration of women, but not men. Using a gendered crime vignette stimulus, I found that participants who scored high in culture of honor and gender norms were more likely to punish women, not men, for the same drug related crime.