Keeping focus on the united states, tonry, (2009) considers several social forces shaping american punitiveness, namely:

political paranoia, Protestant fundamentalism (and intolerance), and a politicization of criminal justice.

Tonry believes that each phenomenas that displayed above contributes to a the creation of some sort of punitiveness in America, He notice that Racial factors would also played a significant role in the formation of those phenomenas.