Political Consequences of the Carceral State

Contact with the criminal justice system is greater today than at any time in our history. In this article, we argue that interactions with criminal justice are an important source of political socialization, in which the lessons that are imprinted are antagonistic to democratic participation and in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American political science review 2010-11, Vol.104 (4), p.817-833
Main Authors: WEAVER, VESLA M., LERMAN, AMY E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Black people
Cities
Citizen Participation
Citizens
Citizenship
Citizenship Education
Civics
Correctional Institutions
Criminal arrests
Criminal Justice
Criminal punishment
Criminal sentences
Criminals
Democracy
Democratic theory
Dropouts
Empirical research
Government (Administrative Body)
History
Imprisonment
Interaction
Juvenile Justice
Law enforcement
Learning
Males
Offenders
Participation
Police
Political Attitudes
Political behavior
Political dysfunctions
Political institutions
Political science
Political Socialization
Political systems
Politics
Prisons
Public policy
School dropouts
Socialization
Socioeconomic status
Surveillance
United States
Values
Voter registration
Voting
Welfare
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Summary:Contact with the criminal justice system is greater today than at any time in our history. In this article, we argue that interactions with criminal justice are an important source of political socialization, in which the lessons that are imprinted are antagonistic to democratic participation and inspire negative orientations toward government. To test this argument, we conduct the first systematic empirical exploration of how criminal justice involvement shapes the citizenship and political voice of a growing swath of Americans. We find that custodial involvement carries with it a substantial civic penalty that is not explained by criminal propensity or socioeconomic differences alone. Given that the carceral state has become a routine site of interaction between government and citizens, institutions of criminal justice have emerged as an important force in defining citizen participation and understandings, with potentially dire consequences for democratic ideals.
ISSN:0003-0554
1537-5943
DOI:10.1017/S0003055410000456