Incarceration and Political Engagement: The Policy Feedback Effects of Criminal Justice Policy
Date
2011
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
The consequences of incarceration for ex-offenders include discrimination and inequality in the labor market, a less stable family life, further exposure to the criminal world, and separation from mainstream society. Despite an extensive literature exploring the effects of incarceration on the economic and social well-being of ex-offenders and their communities, the effects of incarceration on political processes and democratic institutions has only recently undergone study. As a result, the literature to date lacks a fully-developed theoretical model tying incarceration and participation and, consequently, past empirical studies of the phenomenon omit important predictors of participation, such as pre-incarceration interest in politics. This thesis contributes a theoretical model to the literature and a more robust methodological design. Empirical findings suggest that no statistically discernible effect of incarceration exists. These findings suggest that past studies which have shown that incarceration is negatively associated with participation may have failed to fully account for the heterogeneity of incarcerated and non-incarcerated populations and thus may have upwardly biased estimates of the effects of incarceration on political participation. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for the political participation and policy feedback literatures.