Yen-Tung Lin

My research centers on two general themes: (1) How the effects of international human rights law vary across different social contexts, and (2) How legal concepts are socially constructed in ways that generate unintended consequences. To examine these questions, I draw on theoretical perspectives from neo-institutionalism, legal mobilization, legal endogeneity, bureaucracy, and state–society relations. 

Regarding the first line of research, I am interested in how international legal norms take on different meanings and effects across societies in general. My book manuscript, Rights Confined: How International Human Rights Law Shapes Solitary Confinement in Taiwan, Denmark, and California, adapted from my doctoral dissertation, examines how international norms governing solitary confinement become embedded within the distinct state–society relations and penal histories of Taiwan, Denmark, and California, producing markedly different trajectories of prison reform. Part of this research has been published in Law & Society Review. 

Regarding the second line of research, I am initiating a research project on the social construction of the legal concept of “rehabilitative potential” in criminal law and the unintended consequences that arise. 

I teach courses on comparative methods, the sociology of law, and sociological theory. I welcome inquiries about my research or teaching and can be reached by email.

Education

Ph.D., Jurisprudence and Social Policy, UC Berkeley

M.A., Sociology, National Taiwan University

B.A., Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University

• Lin, Yen-Tung. 2025. “Human Rights Upsurge”: Contentious Coupling and the Limitations of Solitary Confinement Reform in Taiwan,” Law & Society Review. 59(3): 584–618.