Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper answers the following question: Under what conditions are states more likely to repeal disfranchisement provisions pertaining to the voting rights of persons convicted of a felony? We also address two broader questions: (1) Do parties seek electoral gain by changing the electoral system and voting laws? And (2) do parties override the ideological preferences of constituents in order to advance their electoral agenda? The answer to both questions is 'yes'. We find that disfranchisement provisions are more likely to be repealed under a unified Democratic state government, but that states where electoral support for Democrats is generally weak are also more likely to repeal such provisions. We find no evidence that citizen ideology effects changes in voting rights. The implications of our analysis for students of parties and voting rights are clear: Rules are changed by those who stand to benefit, and parties matter at the state level.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Authors featured in Criminology & Public Policy's special issue devoted to criminal justice policy present and defend their policy propositions (Criminology & Public Policy, Volume 6, Issue 4, November 2007).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Racial threat has been shown to be related to the time, place and severity of disenfranchisement laws for ex-felons. We examine here, whether perceived racial threat helps to account for current opposition to the abolition of disenfranchisement policies. To do this, interview data from a survey of 1,593 Florida adults randomly sampled in 2004 are used. Perceived racial composition of neighborhood and the perceived involvement of blacks in several crimes – the racial typification of crime – are our measures of perceived racial threat. Perceived racial composition is unrelated to opposition to re-enfranchisement of ex-felons. But the racial typification of crime significantly predicts that opposition, independent of the effects of general punitiveness, conservatism, and other predictors. That relationship is strongest for whites who are liberal/moderate and generally less punitive and is not effected by varying levels of racial threat measured at macro-social levels.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: At present, over five million Americans are denied the right to vote as a result of prior felony conviction. The large number of citizens removed from the electorate because of a felony conviction raises the question of what effects disenfranchisement might have on electoral outcomes. If felons and ex-felons could vote, would they? And if they did vote, would it matter? Previous research has approached these questions in one of two ways: counterfactual analyses of individuals’ voting behavior (Uggen & Manza 2002; Manza & Uggen 2004; 2006) or analyses of aggregate turnout figures across demographic groups or states (Miles 2004; Grose & Yoshinaka 2002). These analyses reach different conclusions regarding the electoral impact of felony disenfranchisement. In the present paper, I approach this debate with a new method, which takes advantage of temporal variation in state laws regulating felon voting rights. The variation comes in the form of state-level policy changes that re-enfranchise certain classes of convicted felons. Time series analyses of voter turnout in select states fails to identify any significant changes in voter turnout levels following re-enfranchising policy changes. These results suggest that felon re-enfranchisement may have a rather limited impact on the American electoral environment.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: While research exists that addresses both the importance of offering ex-felons employment opportunities and the hesitant attitudes of employers toward such ex-felons, there is a lack of research investigating the specific factors that influence an employer in his or her hiring decision toward an ex-felon. Thus, this paper presents preliminary findings from an ongoing exploratory analysis of surveys completed by hiring personnel from a variety of employment fields. Factors specifically influencing an employer’s decision of whether or not to hire an ex-felon are discussed. This research also investigates how demographic variables about the employer such as age and race influence employers’ hiring practices toward ex-felons. This paper ends with a discussion of how labeling theory explains the ongoing unemployability that countless ex-felons face each day.