Monetary Disenfranchisement: Analyzing Florida’s New Felony Re-Enfranchisement Strategy

• In Event: Exploring the Collateral Consequences of Incarceration on Housing and Employment

Abstract

Despite the promise of current decarceration efforts, the reach of the carceral state remains high and its logic continues to permeate state institutions and social sensibilities. Felony disenfranchisement laws have been an important mechanism through which the criminal justice system has impacted political institutions. This paper examines Florida’s current effort to reduce felony related restriction to voting conditioned on the payment of all legal financial obligations imposed in the sentence. Using sentencing data from selected counties in Florida, we examine trends in the use of legal financial obligations in felony sentences and discuss their implications for re-enfranchisement efforts.

Authors

• Julie Brancale, Florida State University

• Cecilia Chouhy, Florida State University

• Kaylee Noorman, Florida State University

• Nic Swagar, Florida State University