Barriers to Democratic Participation

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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When criminologists talk about "citizens," they generally use the term in opposition to convicted offenders, placing criminals on one side of the ledger and law-abiding community residents on the other. Yet felons are themselves citizens, who occupy roles as taxpayers, homeowners, volunteers, and voters. This discussion paper explores the civic and political life of criminal offenders, with a particular emphasis on felon disfranchisement. Although a well-developed research literature addresses socioeconomic (e.g., Sampson and Laub 1993; Uggen 2000) and family reintegration (e.g., Laub, Nagin, and Sampson 1998), the subject of reintegration into community life and civic participation has received comparatively little attention. In my view, civic reintegration represents a third reintegrative domain in which increased social participation may affect desistance patterns. If, as Shadd Maruna (2001, 7) contends, desistance is only possible when ex-offenders "develop a coherent pro-social identity for themselves," then prisoner reentry programs could facilitate this development by removing barriers to democratic participation. In fact, it is possible that developing a self-concept as a prosocial conforming citizen may be a key mechanism linking adult work and family roles with desistance from crime (Uggen, Manza, and Behrens forthcoming).

Because relatively few peer-reviewed research articles on the political life of convicted felons have been published, this review will rely to some extent on unpublished work (including my own current project with Jeff Manza) and journalistic accounts. No account of this area would be complete without a historical overview of voting restrictions on felons and ex-felons, as well as a discussion of current legal challenges. I then turn to recent estimates of the scope and likely political impact of disfranchisement on state and national elections. The topic that may be of greatest interest to the reentry roundtable is the question of the "civic reintegration" of large numbers of released offenders. To understand the political thoughts and attitudes of those most affected by these laws, I will draw here upon some recently collected interview and survey data. Next, other barriers to democratic participation are discussed, such as constraints on engaging in political discussions and demonstrations. Finally, I conclude on a programmatic note, taking stock of existing knowledge and suggesting some potentially promising areas for research and policy.

Note: This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF).

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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