Citizenship, Democracy, and the Civic Reintegration of Criminal Offenders

Christopher Uggen, Jeff Manza and Melissa Thompson
Additional contact information
Christopher Uggen: University of Minnesota, uggen001@umn.edu
Jeff Manza: Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University
Melissa Thompson: Portland State University

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2006, vol. 605, issue 1, 281-310

Abstract: Convicted felons face both legal and informal barriers to becoming productive citizens at work, responsible citizens in family life, and active citizens in their communities. As criminal punishment has increased in the United States, collateral sanctions such as voting restrictions have taken on new meaning. The authors place such restrictions in comparative context and consider their effects on civil liberties, democratic institutions, and civic life more generally. Based on demographic life tables, the authors estimate that approximately 4 million former prisoners and 11.7 million former felons live and work among us every day. The authors describe historical changes in these groups; their effects on social institutions; and the extent to which they constitute a caste, class, or status group within American society. The authors conclude by discussing how reintegrative criminal justice practices might strengthen democracy while preserving, and perhaps enhancing, public safety.

Keywords: crime; punishment; voting; democracy; reintegration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716206286898 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:605:y:2006:i:1:p:281-310

DOI: 10.1177/0002716206286898

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().