Assessing the ethics of prison policies to ensure human rights compliance: Suicides and self-inflicted critical events in Italian prisons

IF 2.3 3区 经济学 Q2 ECONOMICS
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Considering self-inflicted critical events (suicides, attempted suicides, self-harm acts, hunger strikes) in Italian prisons as indicators of the respect of inmates' human rights, this study examines their relationship with the characteristics of the Italian prison system between 2016 and 2021, using a unique prison-level dataset covering the 188 national prisons. Both individual panel regressions and seemingly unrelated regressions show that reducing prison overcrowding reduces critical events. The same result is achieved by increasing mandatory treatments (restraint acts) performed discretionally by prison staff. Because the former policy is politically sensitive and difficult/costly to implement, policymakers may prefer to rely on the latter as a “death-avoidance strategy”, despite the greater likelihood of violating inmates’ human rights. These findings may help explain the increasing use of acts of restraint in Italian prisons in recent times.

评估确保遵守人权的监狱政策的道德:意大利监狱中的自杀和自我造成的重大事件
本研究将意大利监狱中的自残危急事件(自杀、自杀未遂、自残行为、绝食)视为尊重囚犯人权的指标,利用涵盖全国 188 所监狱的独特监狱级数据集,研究了这些事件与 2016 年至 2021 年期间意大利监狱系统特征之间的关系。单个面板回归和看似无关的回归都表明,减少监狱过度拥挤会减少危急事件的发生。增加监狱工作人员酌情实施的强制治疗(限制行为)也能达到同样的效果。由于前一种政策具有政治敏感性,而且实施起来难度大/成本高,因此决策者可能更倾向于将后者作为一种 "避免死亡的策略",尽管这更有可能侵犯囚犯的人权。这些发现可能有助于解释近来意大利监狱中越来越多地使用限制行为的原因。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.40
自引率
10.00%
发文量
106
期刊介绍: The aim of the European Journal of Political Economy is to disseminate original theoretical and empirical research on economic phenomena within a scope that encompasses collective decision making, political behavior, and the role of institutions. Contributions are invited from the international community of researchers. Manuscripts must be published in English. Starting 2008, the European Journal of Political Economy is indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index published by Thomson Scientific (formerly ISI).
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