Hostname: page-component-669899f699-ggqkh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T01:00:33.938Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Turnout and Party Registration among Criminal Offenders in the 2008 General Election

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Traci Burch
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper estimates the voter registration, turnout, and party registration in the 2008 general election for men with felony convictions in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, and North Carolina. The findings indicate that turnout among felons is much lower than previous research has shown. Ex-felon turnout in 2008 varied by state, averaging 22.2 percent. People captured and convicted for their first offense after the election voted at similarly low rates. Also contrary to the expectations of previous literature, the ex-felon population does not seem overwhelmingly Democratic. In North Carolina and Florida, two states for which the data are available, party registration varies by race. Among registered black male ex-felons, 71.7 percent in North Carolina and 84.2 percent in Florida are registered Democrats. Among whites, however, only 35.3 percent and 36.4 percent of ex-felons are registered Democrats in North Carolina and Florida, respectively.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 699 - 730
Copyright
© 2011 Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

I would like to thank Jennifer Hochschild, Gary King, Sidney Verba, Kay Schlozman, Andrea Campbell, D. Sunshine Hillygus, Vesla Weaver, the members of the American Politics Research Workshop at Harvard University, Barry Burden, and Jamie Druckman for their comments on various drafts of this article. This article was funded by the American Bar Foundation and Northwestern University.

References

Abu-Jamal, Mumia (1995) Live from Death Row. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Albonetti, Celesta A. (1997) “Sentencing Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Effects of Defendant Characteristics, Guilty Pleas, and Departures on Sentence Outcomes for Drug Offenses 1991–1992,” 31 Law & Society Rev. 789–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arias, Elizabeth (2005) U.S. Life Tables, 2002. National Vital Statistics Reports. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry M. (2005) “What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas?” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Brewer, Mark D., & Stonecash, Jeffrey M. (2001) “Class, Race Issues, and Declining White Support for the Democratic Party in the South,” 23 Political Behavior 131–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bridges, George S., & Crutchfield, Robert D. (1988) “Law, Social Standing, and Racial Disparities in Imprisonment,” 66 Social Forces 699–724.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, Deion, et al. (2000) “Arbitrariness in the Imposition of Death Sentences in Texas: An Analysis of Four Counties by Offense Seriousness, Race of Victim, and Race of Offender,” 28 American J. Criminal Law 43–71.Google Scholar
Burch, Traci (2007a) “Punishment and Participation: How Criminal Convictions Threaten American Democracy,” Program in Government and Social Policy, Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Burch, Traci (2007b) “A Study of Felon and Misdemeanant Voter Participation in NC.” The Sentencing Project, Washington, DC. Available online at http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/fd_northcarolina.pdf.Google Scholar
Burch, Traci (2010) “Did Disfranchisement Laws Help Elect President Bush? New Evidence on the Turnout Rates and Party Registration of Florida's Ex-Felons,” Political Behavior, Online ahead of print. DOI: 10.1007/s1109-010-9150-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bushway, Shawn D., & Piehl, Anne M. (2001) “Judging Judicial Discretion: Legal Factors and Racial Discrimination in Sentencing,” 35 Law & Society Rev. 733–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Angus, et al. (1960) The American Voter. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Conn, Jason Belmont (2005) “Felon Disenfranchisement Laws: Partisan Politics in the Legislatures,” 10 Michigan J. of Race & Law 495–539.Google Scholar
Davis, Angela Y. (2003) “Political Prisoners, Prisons, and Black Liberation,” in James, J., ed., Imprisoned Intellectuals. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Dawson, Michael C. (1994) Behind the Mule. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Demeo, Marisa, & Ochoa, Steven A. (2003) “Diminished Voting Power in the Latino Community,” Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Available online at http://www.maldef.org/assets/pdf/FEB18-LatinoVotingRightsReport.pdf.Google Scholar
DeNardo, James (1980) “Turnout and the Vote: The Joke's on the Democrats,” 74 American Political Science Rev. 406–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ditton, Pamela M. (1999) “Mental Health and Treatment of Inmates and Probationers.” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Available online at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/sontent/pub/pdf/mhtip.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Thomas (2009) “Voter Turnout Increases by 5 Million in 2008 Presidential Election, U.S. Census Bureau Reports.” Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.Google Scholar
Erikson, Robert S. (1995) “State Turnout and Presidential Voting,” 23 American Politics Q. 387–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewald, Alec (2005) “A ‘Crazy-Quilt’ of Tiny Pieces: State and Local Administration of American criminal Disenfranchisement Law,” Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project.Google Scholar
Fellner, Jamie, & Mauer, Marc (1998) “Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disfranchisement Laws in the United States.” Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project.Google Scholar
Finkel, Steven E., & Scarrow, Howard A. (1985) “Party Identification and Party Enrollment: The Difference and the Consequence,” 47 J. of Politics 620–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fleisher, Mark S., & Decker, Scott H. (2001) “Going Home, Staying Home: Integrating Prison Gang Members into the Community,” 5 Corrections Management Q. 65–77.Google Scholar
Florida Secretary of State (2008) “County Voter Registration by Party and Race.” Available online at http://election.dos.state.fl.us/voter-registration/statistics/pdf/2008/2008genPartyRace.pdf. Accessed on 11 August 2010.Google Scholar
Frank, Thomas (2004) What's the Matter with Kansas? New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Glaze, Lauren E., & Bonczar, Thomas P. 2009 “Probation and Parole in the United States, 2008,” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Randall A., et al. (1988) “Perceptioins of Blue- and White-Collar Crime: The Effect of Defendant Race on Simulated Juror Decisions,” 128 J. of Social Psychology 191–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grose, Christian R., & Yoshinaka, Antoine (2002) “Electoral Institutions and Voter Participation: The Effect of Felon Disenfranchisement Laws on Voter Turnout in the U.S. Southern States, 1984–2000.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Hansen, John Mark (1985) “The Political Economy of Group Membership,” 79 American Political Science Rev. 79–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harlow, Caroline W. (2003) “Education and Correctional Populations,” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.Google Scholar
Haselswerdt, Michael V. (2009) “Con Job: An Estimate of Ex-Felon Voter Turnout Using Document-Based Data,” 90 Social Science Q. 262–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillygus, D. Sunshine, & Shields, Todd G. (2005) “Moral Issues and Voter Decision Making in the 2004 Presidential Election,” 85 PS: Political Science and Politics 201–9.Google Scholar
Holland, Paul W. (1986) “Statistics and Causal Inference,” 81 J. of the American Statistical Association 945–60.Google Scholar
Holzer, Harry, et al. (2004) “Will Employers Hire Ex Offenders? Employer Preferences, Background Checks, and Their Determinants,” in , M. Pattillo, et al., eds., Imprisoning America. New York: Sage.Google Scholar
Humphrey, John A., & Fogarty, Timothy J. (1987) “Race and Plea Bargained Outcomes: A Research Note,” 66 Social Forces 176–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Gary, et al. (2000) “Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation,” 44 American J. of Political Science 341–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Mike (2008) “Early Voting Hours Must Be Extended,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 30 October 2008, A22.Google Scholar
Klepper, , et al. (1983) “Discrimination in the Criminal Justice System: A Critical Appraisal of the Literature,” inBlumstein, Alfred, et al., eds., Research on Sentencing: A Search for Reform. Washington, DC: National Academy Press: 55–128.Google Scholar
Kristof, Nicholas D. (2004) “Living Poor, Voting Rich,” The New York Times, November 3, 2004.Google Scholar
Langan, Patricia A., & Levin, David J. (2002) “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994,” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundman, Richard J., & Kaufman, Robert L. (2003) “Driving While Black: Effects of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender on Citizen Self-Reports of Traffic Stops,” 41 Criminology 195–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manza, Jeff, & Uggen, Christopher (2004) “Punishment and Democracy: Disenfranchisement of Nonincarcerated Felons in the United States,” 2 Perspectives on Politics 491–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manza, Jeff, & Uggen, Christopher 2006. Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miles, Thomas J. (2004) “Felon Disenfranchisement and Voter Turnout,” 33 J. of Legal Studies 85–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Solomon (2008) “States Restore Voting Rights for Ex-Convicts, but Issue Remains Politically Sensitive,” The New York Times, 14 September, A22.Google Scholar
Mumola, Christopher J. (1999) “Substance Abuse and Treatment, State and Federal Offenders, 1997,” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mumola, Christopher J. & Karburg, Jennifer (2006) “Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004,” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, Jack H., & McNulty, John E. (1996) “Partisan Effects of Voter Turnout in Senatorial and Gubernatorial Elections,” 90 American Political Science Rev. 780–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pager, Devah, & Quillian, Lincoln (2005) “What Employers Say vs. What They Do,” 70 American Sociological Rev. 355–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pew Hispanic Center (2008) “Among Hispanics in FL, 2008 Voter Registration Rolls Swing Democratic.” Available online at http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/44.pdf. Accessed on 10 Dec 2009.Google Scholar
Piven, Frances Fox, & Cloward, Richard A. (2000) Why American Still Don't Vote. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Presser, Stanley, et al. (1990). Vote “Over” Reporting in Surveys: The Records or the Respondents? NES Technical Report Series, No. nes010157.Google Scholar
Rodriguez, Nancy (2003) Persistent Offender Law: Racial Disparity, Patterned Offenses, and Unintended Effects. New York: LFB.Google Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J., & Wolfinger, Raymond E. (1978) “The Effect of Registration Laws on Voter Turnout,” 72 American Political Science Rev. 22–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenstone, Steven J. & Hansen, John Mark (1993) Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1762/1987) The Social Contract, edited byCress, D. A. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett.Google Scholar
Sabol, William J., et al. (2009) “Prisoners in 2008.” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics. Available online at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf. Accessed 22 June 2010.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J. (1988) “Local Friendship Ties and Community Attachment in Mass Society: A Multilevel Systemic Model,” 53 American Sociological Rev. 766–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., & Groves, W. Byron (1989) “Community Structure and Crime: Testing Social-Disorganization Theory,” 94 American J. of Sociology 774–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., et al. (2002) “Assessing ‘Neighborhood Effects’: Social Processes and New Directions in Research,” 28 Annual Rev. of Sociology 443–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Erica L., & Durose, Matthew (2006) “Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police,” U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Programs. Available online at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/cdsp02.pdf.Google Scholar
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (2003) “Table 6.73: Prisoners Receiving Mental Health Treatment in State Correctional Facilities.” Available online at http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t673.pdf. Accessed on 25 June 2010.Google Scholar
Spohn, Cassia, et al. (1998) “Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Sentence Severity in Dade County, FL: An Examination of the Decision to Withhold Adjudication,” 21 J. of Crime and Justice 111–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steffensmeier, Darrell, & Demuth, Stehpen (2000) “Ethnicity and Sentencing Outcomes in U.S. Federal Courts: Who is Punished More Harshly?,” 65 American Sociological Rev. 705–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stonecash, Jeffrey M. (2000) Class and Party in American Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
The New York Times/CBS News Poll, October 19–22, 2008 (2008) Available online at http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/oct08d.trn.pdf.Google Scholar
Thomson, Randall, & Zingraff, Matthew T. (1981) “Detecting Sentencing Disparity: Some Problems and Evidence,” 86 American J. of Sociology 866–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Travis, Jeremy (2002) “Invisible Punishment: An Instrument of Social Exclusion,” inMauer, M. & Chesney-Lind, M., eds., Invisible Punishment. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Tucker, Harvey J., et al. (1986) “Does Heavy Turnout Help Democrats in Presidential Elections?,” 80 American Political Science Rev. 1291–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uggen, Christopher, & Manza, Jeff (2002) “Democratic Contraction? Political Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States,” 67 American Sociological Rev. 777–803.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uggen, Christopher, et al. (2006) “Citizenship, Democracy, and the Civic Reintegration of Criminal Offenders,” 605 Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 281–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census (2009a) “Geographic Mobility/Migration: Calculating Migration Expectancy.” Available online at http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/migrate/cal-mig-exp.html. Accessed on 2 June 2010.Google Scholar
U.S. Bureau of the Census (2009b) “Table 7. General Mobility, by Age, Race and Hispanic Origin, and Tenure: 2007 to 2008.” Available online at http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/migration/cps2008/tab07-01.xls. Accessed on 2 June 2010.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, & Nie, Norman (1972) Participation in America. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Verba, Sidney, et al. (1995) Voice and Equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinstein, Ian (2003) “Fifteen Years After the Federal Sentencing Revolution: How Mandatory Minimums Have Undermined Effective and Just Narcotics Sentencing,” 40 American Criminal Law Rev. 87.Google Scholar
West, Heather C., & Sabol, William J. (2008) “Prisoners in 2007.” Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Western, Bruce, et al. (2004a) “Incarceration and the Bonds between Parents in Fragile Families,” inPattillo, M. et al., eds., Imprisoning America. New York: Sage.Google Scholar
Western, Bruce, et al. (2004b) “Introduction,” inPattillo, M. et al., eds., Imprisoning America. New York: Sage.Google Scholar
X, Malcolm (1965) The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Grove Press.Google Scholar