Table Of ContentThe Pennsylvania State University
The Graduate School
College of the Liberal Arts
PUNISHING THE ‘OTHERS’: CITIZENSHIP AND STATE SOCIAL
CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES AND GERMANY
A Dissertation in
Sociology
by
Michael T. Light
© 2013 Michael T. Light
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
August 2013
The dissertation of Michael T. Light was reviewed and approved* by the following:
Jeffery Ulmer
Professor of Sociology and Crime, Law, and Justice
Dissertation Advisor
Chair of Committee
Glenn Firebaugh
Roy C. Buck Professor of American Institutions and Professor of Sociology and Demography
John Iceland
Professor of Sociology and Demography
Department Head
Christopher Zorn
Liberal Arts Research Professor of Political Science
John Kramer
Professor of Sociology and Crime, Law, and Justice
*Signatures on file in the Graduate School
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Abstract
This dissertation examines the punishment consequences of citizenship status in U.S. and
German criminal courts. The conceptual and analytical models of sentencing merge two distinct
theoretical traditions – citizenship studies and the sociology of punishment. Utilizing an ideal-
type comparison of case outcomes in the United States and Germany – two advanced western
democracies with strong rule of law traditions but markedly different conceptions of citizenship
and nationhood – this dissertation investigates the sentencing of non-state members using a
unique cross-national, mixed-methodological research design. Specifically, data from the U.S.
federal courts and German court system from 1998 to 2010 are used to estimate the punishment
gap between citizen and noncitizen offenders across a range of statistical analyses. These results
are then combined with judge interviews from both countries to identify and explicate the
mechanisms linking national membership to punishment considerations.
Two main findings emerge from this analysis. First, citizenship is a powerful predictor of
increased punishment in U.S. and German courts. The results indicate that the effect of
citizenship on sentencing is equal to or greater in magnitude than factors traditionally stressed in
legal inequality research, such as race/ethnicity or gender. Particularly in U.S. federal courts, the
evidence is clear that national boundaries are more salient than racial/ethnic distinctions. Second,
noncitizens are punished more harshly in both countries despite fundamentally different legal,
political, and normative conceptions of citizenship, suggesting that national boundaries are
significant in criminal courts even in countries that have distinct definitions of national
membership.
The interviews suggest a variety of intervening mechanisms explain these findings. First,
a prominent theme emerged that judges in both countries resented that noncitizens would
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compound their immigrant status with criminal transgressions and violate their countries
hospitality. Second, foreigners lack of social bonds to society affected judges sentencing
decisions through a variety of pathways, including defendants’ lack of gainful employment or
native language proficiency. In the U.S., some judges also felt their sentencing options were
limited because foreign defendants would likely be deported. Third, several judges viewed
noncitizens criminality as rooted in cultural practices, and thus a message needed to be sent to
other members of the immigrant group. These themes often overlapped, demonstrating an
intricate web of relationships that explain the differential legal treatment of non-state members.
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Table of Contents
List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix
Acknowledgments.......................................................................................................................... xi
Chapter 1: Introduction – Citizenship and Punishment ........................................................... 1
The Agenda ................................................................................................................................. 5
The Decline of Citizenship? ........................................................................................................ 9
The Argument ........................................................................................................................... 14
Case Selection ........................................................................................................................... 16
Analytical Approach ................................................................................................................. 18
Overview and Logic of Dissertation ......................................................................................... 20
Chapter 2: Understanding Citizenship through Punishment ................................................. 23
Punishment and Sovereignty ..................................................................................................... 25
Punishment and Culture ............................................................................................................ 28
Punishment and Group Membership ......................................................................................... 31
Previous Research: Group Boundaries and the Criminal Justice System ............................ 33
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 38
Chapter 3: Citizenship and Social Control ............................................................................... 41
Immigration and Social Control ................................................................................................ 41
Previous Research: Citizenship and Punishment .................................................................. 50
Citizenship, Stratification, and Cultural Distance ..................................................................... 54
Summary: Theoretical Predictions ............................................................................................ 61
Chapter 4: Data and Analytical Strategy ................................................................................. 63
Statistical Analysis .................................................................................................................... 63
Dependent Variables ............................................................................................................. 67
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Independent Variables ........................................................................................................... 69
Focal Predictor Variables ................................................................................................... 69
Legal and Case Characteristics .......................................................................................... 69
Analytical Strategy and Logic of Analysis ............................................................................... 72
Methodological Strengths of the Quantitative-Qualitative Approach ................................... 77
Qualitative Analysis .................................................................................................................. 80
Chapter 5: Punishing the ‘Others’ in U.S. Federal Courts ..................................................... 88
The Punishment of Different Noncitizen Groups ..................................................................... 93
The Salience of Citizenship over Time ..................................................................................... 94
Summary ................................................................................................................................... 96
Chapter 6: Punishing the ‘Others’ in German Courts .......................................................... 106
The Punishment of Different Noncitizen Groups ................................................................... 111
The Salience of Citizenship over Time ................................................................................... 113
Robustness Checks: Comparability between U.S. and German Courts .............................. 115
Summary and Discussion ........................................................................................................ 118
Chapter 7: Discourses on Punishing ‘Others:’ A View from the Bench .............................. 133
Focal Concerns and Criminal Stereotypes .............................................................................. 133
Explaining Citizenship Disparities Under the Law ................................................................. 138
Resentment ........................................................................................................................... 139
Social Marginalization and Societal Integration ................................................................ 148
Absconding ...................................................................................................................... 148
Recidivism ....................................................................................................................... 151
Language Proficiency ...................................................................................................... 154
Cultural Practices................................................................................................................ 158
Other Explanations .............................................................................................................. 161
Explaining the Quantitative Results ........................................................................................ 167
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Similarities and Differences with Extant Theories .............................................................. 176
Summary ................................................................................................................................. 178
Chapter 8: Conclusion – Citizenship, State Social Control, and the Punishment of ‘Others’
..................................................................................................................................................... 181
Revisiting the Citizenship Debates ......................................................................................... 182
Punishment and a Global Culture of Control ..................................................................... 190
Citizenship and Stratification .................................................................................................. 192
Citizenship and the Sociology of Punishment......................................................................... 195
Towards a Sociology of Citizenship .................................................................................... 203
References .................................................................................................................................. 205
Appendix A: U.S. Methodological Appendix ......................................................................... 221
Appendix B: German Methodological Appendix................................................................... 227
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List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Number of Noncitizens Incarcerated in U.S. Federal Prison and German Prisons,
1985-2005…………..…………………………………………………………………………... 22
Figure 5.1: Percent Incarcerated in U.S. Federal Courts by Citizenship Status, 2009-2010….... 99
Figure 5.2: Race, Ethnicity, and Citizenship Effects for the Incarceration Decision, 1998-2010
…................................................................................................................................................. 103
Figure 5.3: Race, Ethnicity, and Citizenship Effects for the Sentence Length Decision, 1998-
2010……………………………………………………………………………………………. 104
Figure 6.1: Percent Incarcerated in German Courts by Citizenship Status, 2009-2010………. 123
Figure 6.2: Citizenship Effects for the Incarceration Decision in German Courts, 1998-2010.. 127
Figure 6.3: Citizenship Effects for OLS Models of Sentence Length in German Courts, 1998-
2010……………………………………………………………………………………...…….. 128
Figure 6.4: Citizenship Effects for Tobit Models of Sentence Length in German Courts, 1998-
2010……………………………………………………………………………………………. 129
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List of Tables
Table 4.1: Descriptive Statistics for U.S. and Non-U.S. Citizens Sentenced in U.S. Federal
Courts, 2009-2010……………………………………………………………………….……... 85
Table 4.2: Descriptive Statistics for German and Non-German Citizens Sentenced in German
Courts, 2009-2010……………………………………………………………………………… 86
Table 4.3: Description of Judges and Courts used in Qualitative Analysis……………………. 87
Table 5.1: Logistic Regression Models of Incarceration in U.S. Federal Courts, 2009-2010.... 100
Table 5.2: OLS Models of Sentence Length in U.S. Federal Courts, 2009-2010…………..… 101
Table 5.3: Incarceration and Sentence Length Models for Different Non-Citizen Groups in U.S.
Federal Courts, 2009-2010……………………………………………………………….……. 102
Table 5.4: Long-term Trends in Citizenship Disparities for Incarceration and Sentence Length
Decisions, 1998-2010…………………………………………………………………………. 105
Table 6.1: Incarceration and Sentence Length Models in German Courts, 2009-2010…….…. 124
Table 6.2: Interaction b/w Citizenship and Drug Offenses in Incarceration and Sentence Length
Models in German Courts, 2009-2010………………………………………………………… 125
Table 6.3: Incarceration and Sentence Length Models for Difference Non-Citizen Groups for All
Offenders and Drug Offenders Only in German Courts, 2009-2010………………………….. 126
Table 6.4: Long-term Trends in Citizenship Disparities for Incarceration and Sentence Length
Decisions for All Offenders and Drug Offenders Only in German Courts, 1998-2010………. 130
Table 6.5: Incarceration and Sentence Length Models in German Courts for Serious Offenses,
2009-2010………………………………………………………………………...…………… 131
Table 6.6: Incarceration and Sentence Length Models in German Landgerichte Courts, 2004. 132
Appendix A, Table A.1: Robustness Analyses – The Salience of Citizenship on Punishment
Outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts, 2009-2010……………………………………………….... 225
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Appendix A, Table A.2: Correlation Matrix for Covariates in U.S. Analysis……………….... 226
Appendix B, Table B.1: Robustness Analyses – The Salience of Citizenship on Punishment
Outcomes in German Courts, 2009-2010…………………………………………………...… 229
Appendix B, Table B.2: Correlation Matrix for Covariates in German Analyses……………. 230
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