Contested Citizenship: Testing Racial and Partisan Framing in Public Support for Felony Disenfranchisement

• In Event: Crime, Law and Deviance Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 5: Disenfranchisement & Post-Incarceration Outcomes

Abstract

One of the collateral consequences of a felony-level criminal record is felony disenfranchisement - restrictions on one's eligibility to vote in political elections. In a sociopolitical environment marked by intense concern over racial stratification and democratic health, what messages are effective in shifting punitive attitudes regarding felony disenfranchisement policy? Using a nationally representative survey we 1) examine demographic, attitudinal, and experiential correlates of punitive policy support and 2) experimentally examine the effects of different messaging frames (racial, democratic, and partisanship frames) on respondent support for disenfranchisement policy. Experimentally, messaging frames were ineffective in altering support for disenfranchisement policy. However, the effects of the racial and partisanship frames were moderated by racialized crime attitudes and political ideology respectively. Specifically, the partisanship message reduced support for disenfranchisement significantly amongst liberal and legally cynical respondents, and the racial treatment led to a backlash - increased punitive support for respondents with high levels of belief that racial differences in arrest are due to dispositional factors. Further, we find that Black Americans are less supportive of these policies, and this difference is explained by politics, experiences, and racial attitudes. This research highlights the continued racialized and partisan foundation of public support for restrictive voting policy, and gives insight as to how social groups may respond in bifurcating ways to messages surrounding disenfranchisement policy.

Authors

• Ryan Paul Larson, Hamline University

• Iris Fuglie, Hamline University

• Andrew M. Lindner, Skidmore College

• Christopher Uggen, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities