Amy E Nivette

St John's College

Political Legitimacy and Interpersonal Violence

My current research integrates concepts from criminology, sociology and political science to understand variations in violence across countries. The core of my research concerns the relationship between political legitimacy and interpersonal violence. A nation-state's level of political legitimacy, or its 'right to rule', is one of the most important organising principles in social science because it pertains to a state's use of power in relation to its citizens. With legitimacy, states are able to construct and maintain social order amongst the populace by establishing moral, normative and legal bases for encouraging wanted behaviours and discouraging unwanted behaviours. A citizenry that considers the state illegitimate, and by extension its criminal justice agents and laws, are less likely to behave by its non-violent normative standards in resolving conflict.

Start Date: 2009/10.

End Date: 2012/10.

Education

2009-present PhD Candidate. Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge.

Topic: Evaluating cross-national predictors of homicide

Supervisor: Prof. Manuel Eisner

2008-2009 MPhil Criminological Research. Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge.

Topic: Low crime in England and Wales

Supervisor: Prof. Manuel Eisner

2004-2008 BSc (Summa cum Laude) Justice Studies. Minor: Sociology. University of Idaho. Moscow, ID, USA.

Publications

Nivette, Amy E (forthcoming). Spatial Patterns of Political Legitimacy and Homicide in Europe. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice.

Eisner, Manuel & Nivette, Amy E (in press). How to reduce the global homicide rate to 2 per 100,000 by 2060. In Rolf Loeber & Brandon C. Welsh (eds.), The Future of Criminology.

Nivette, Amy E (2011). Violence in non-state societies: A review. British Journal of Criminology, 51(3): 578-598.

Nivette, Amy E (2011). Cross-national predictors of homicide: A meta-analysis. Homicide Studies, 15(2): 103-131.

Nivette, Amy E (2011). Old theories and new approaches: Evaluating Freda Adler's theory of low crime and its implications for criminology. Theoretical Criminology 15(1), 83-99.

Research Reports

Jensen, Eric L., Neuilly, Melanie, and Nivette, Amy E. (2008, July 18). Crime prevention and re-entry programs in Idaho: A report on current services and gaps in services. Report presented to the Idaho Criminal Justice Commission, Boise, ID.

Jensen, Eric L., Neuilly, Melanie, and Nivette, Amy E. (2008, May 2). Causes and correlates of gang membership. Gang prevention programs and re-entry programs: An evidence-based review of the literature. Report presented to the Idaho Criminal Justice Commission, Boise, ID.

Low crime societies

Cross-national/comparative criminology

Political Legitimacy

Macro-social theory

Social capital/social cohesion and crime

Meta-analysis

Manuel Eisner