Ballot manipulation and the menace of negro domination: Racial threat and felon disenfranchisement in the United States, 1850-2002

Criminal offenders in the US typically forfeit voting rights as a collateral consequence of their felony convictions. This article analyzes the origins & development of these state felon disenfranchisement provisions. Because these laws tend to dilute the voting strength of racial minorities, we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of sociology 2003-11, Vol.109 (3), p.559-605
Main Authors: BEHRENS, Angela, UGGEN, Christopher, MANZA, Jeff
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Bans
Black American people
Black White Relations
Case Studies
Citizenship
Civil rights
Civil war
Constitutions
Correctional Institutions
Criminal sociology. Police. Delinquency. Deviance. Suicide
Criminals
Disenfranchisement
Elections
Ex-convicts
History
Laws
Legislation
Manipulation
Minority & ethnic groups
Offenders
Race
Racial Composition
Racial Differences
Racial discrimination
Racism
Reconstruction period-US
Sociology
Sociology of law and criminology
United States History
United States of America
USA
Voting
Voting Rights
Voting Rights Act
War
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Summary:Criminal offenders in the US typically forfeit voting rights as a collateral consequence of their felony convictions. This article analyzes the origins & development of these state felon disenfranchisement provisions. Because these laws tend to dilute the voting strength of racial minorities, we build on theories of group threat to test whether racial threat influenced their passage. Many felon voting bans were passed in the late 1860s & 1870s, when implementation of the Fifteenth Amendment & its extension of voting rights to African Americans were ardently contested. We find that large nonwhite prison populations increase the odds of passing restrictive laws, &, further, that prison & state racial composition may be linked to the adoption of reenfranchisement reforms. These findings are important for understanding restrictions on the civil rights of citizens convicted of crime &, more generally, the role of racial conflict in American political development. 9 Tables, 2 Figures, 1 Appendix, 116 References. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:0002-9602
1537-5390
DOI:10.1086/378647