TY - JOUR
T1 - Ballot Manipulation and the "Menace of Negro Domination"
T2 - Racial Threat and Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States, 1850-2002
AU - Behrens, Angela
AU - Uggen, Christopher
AU - Manza, Jeff
PY - 2003/11
Y1 - 2003/11
N2 - Criminal offenders in the United States typically forfeit voting rights as a collateral consequence of their felony convictions. This article analyzes the origins and 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 and 1870s, when implementation of the Fifteenth Amendment and 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, and, further, that prison and 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 and, more generally, the role of racial conflict in American political development.
AB - Criminal offenders in the United States typically forfeit voting rights as a collateral consequence of their felony convictions. This article analyzes the origins and 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 and 1870s, when implementation of the Fifteenth Amendment and 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, and, further, that prison and 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 and, more generally, the role of racial conflict in American political development.
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U2 - 10.1086/378647
DO - 10.1086/378647
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:1842530912
SN - 0002-9602
VL - 109
SP - 559-605+i
JO - American Journal of Sociology
JF - American Journal of Sociology
IS - 3
ER -