%0 Journal Article
%T Due Process and Homicide: A Cross
%A David S. Brown
%A Erin Terese Huebert
%J Political Research Quarterly
%@ 1938-274X
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1065912918785059
%X As democracy advances in many regions throughout the world, it is often accompanied by increasing violence. Most cross-national analyses find that an inverted U-shaped relationship exists between homicide and democracy: homicide rates are highest in hybrid regimes and lowest in authoritarian and democratic regimes. While a fairly robust empirical result, little is known about why it exists. We identify a specific institution¡ªdue process¡ªthat cuts across regime types and effectively explains homicide. Due process generates a legitimacy that encourages individuals to use the justice system to settle disputes. A more effective criminal justice system also deters crime in the first place. Using a cross-national sample of eighty-nine countries between 2009 and 2014, we find a strong negative relationship between due process and homicide. Put simply, how states fight crime explains their success
%K homicide
%K democracy
%K due process
%K criminal justice
%K law and society
%K institutions
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1065912918785059