Title of Project
Can Re-Enfranchisement Help Offenders Rehabilitate? Exploring the Relationship Between State Felon Disenfranchisement Laws and Three-Year Prison Recidivism Rates
Division
Social Sciences
Course or Program
POLI 195A and POLI 195B: Senior Politics Thesis
Description / Abstract
Felon disenfranchisement is an emerging topic in the fields of American voting behavior and criminal justice reform. This senior politics thesis explores a new way to reduce prison recidivism by re-enfranchising individuals who have lost their voting rights after they have been convicted of a felony. Classic and contemporary theories of political participation, voter learning, and criminal justice reform link the severity of states’ various felon disenfranchisement laws with the rates that individuals in these states return to prison. Previous research within these fields also establishes that voting, and similar forms of political participation, are activities that help develop individuals’ stakes in their societies and foster prosocial behavior and values. Consequently, it is possible that re-enfranchising felons who have been incarcerated will help them to successfully reintegrate back into society after they are released from prison. This study tests the relationship between felon disenfranchisement and three-year prison recidivism rates across all fifty states for the year 2010. It also considers other variables that might affect felons’ voting and recidivism rates, including statewide “Ban the Box” laws (which prevent employers in certain states from dismissing job applicants based on their felony conviction status), the scope of educational programs offered in prisons, and the rate that certain states sentence criminals to life in prison without parole. While this study was unable to substantively prove that a relationship between state-by-state felon disenfranchisement and prison recidivism rates exists, it contributes to the growing body of research that examines the impacts of felon disenfranchisement laws in the United States, and highlights several important areas for further research; most significantly, the relationship between states’ commitment to educating their felon populations, the severity of their disenfranchisement laws, and their prison recidivism rates.
