David Frank, University of California Irvine- “Cross-National Variations in the Criminal Regulation of Sex, 1965-2005."
University of California Irvine
"Cross-National Variations in the Criminal Regulation of Sex, 1965-2005"
Abstract: Between 1965 and 2005, there was considerable cross-national variation in the criminal regulation of sex, both substantively and in the rate of reform. I argue that cross-national variations in criminal sex laws hinge on linkages to wider global institutions, both cultural and organizational, and that such linkages shape the original contents of sex laws and the rate and direction of reform. With original data on the criminal regulation of rape, adultery, sodomy, and child-sexual abuse for more than 100 countries 1965-2005, I test my argument against the main alternatives. In a series of event-history and pooled-time-series models, I find (a) that original substantive variations depend heavily on colonial ties, (2) that substantive variations diminish over time, (3) that ties to world society influence the rate of reform and also its substantive direction, and (4) that ties to global institutions matter more than ties to global interest groups. Domestic factors, notably including social-movement mobilization, prove unimportant. Overall, the findings confirm the utility of conceiving criminal sex laws – and perhaps criminal laws generally – in global-institutional terms.
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