Policing Participation: Policy Feedback in Context

• In Event: Racial Policy Determines Racial Politics

Abstract

On May 10th, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed federal prosecutors to pursue harsher sentences for criminal suspects, reversing key federal Obama-era policies. As the United States’ criminal justice system continues promote policies that support mass incarceration, some communities are more affected than others. While past research typically finds that direct contact with the carceral state affects citizens’ attitudes and participation (Lerman and Weaver 2014), more recent work suggests that the intensity of criminal justice enforcement in an area also shapes political behavior (Burch 2013; Maltby 2017). Does the effect of direct contact with the criminal justice system on political engagement vary depending on policy context? We argue that personal experience with law enforcement differently affects individuals’ political behavior in areas where criminal justice enforcement is racially equal compared to areas where the justice system disproportionately targets African Americans. To test this argument, we combine survey data from the 2016 American National Election Survey Time Series Study with information on county-level criminal justice enforcement. We find that personal police contact depresses political participation, but only in areas where policy enforcement is unequal. Our findings suggest that in order to fully understand the ways that policy shapes political behavior, we need to look at both personal experience and environmental factors.

Authors

• Elizabeth A Maltby, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

• Jielu Yao, University of Iowa

• Rachel Torres, University of Iowa