Jake Bratton

1
Racial Threat and Punitiveness Opposition to
the Restoration of Civil Rights for Ex-Felons
Jake Bratton Kathy G. Padgett Ted
Chiricos Marc Gertz
2
The Question

• Does Racial Typification Of Crime Have An
  Independent Effect On Support For or Opposition
  To Felon Enfranchisement?

3
Felons Rights in FL

• Issue revolves around 1968 law that permanently
  disenfranchises felons
• Restoration is contingent upon a cumbersome
  application process that requires action by the
  states clemency board
• Estimated that over 613,000 ex-convicts in
  Florida have not had their civil rights restored.

4
Racial Typification of Crime

• Degree to which individuals perceive members of a
  particular race to be involved in crime
• Todays prevailing criminal predator has become
  a euphemism for young black male. (Barak, 1994)
• Research shows that public perception of black
  involvement in crime is higher than official
  estimates
• Consequences of racial typification of crime
  extend beyond the narrow scope of this project
  Modern Racism
• Racial Typification has been linked to increased
  punitive attitudes (Chiricos et al., 2005)

5
Punitiveness

• This study builds on the punitiveness literature
• Racial effects on punitiveness
• Locational (i.e. South/Non-south) effects of
  punitiveness have been observed
• Political Ideology has been positively correlated
  with punitiveness
• Religious fundamentalism has been positively
  correlated with punitiveness, especially in the
  South
• Crime Salience has been linked to support for
  punitive measures

6
The Link

• Social Threat and Social Control
• A specialization of Blalocks (1967) Power/Threat
  Hypothesis
• Crime has become a proxy for racial threat
• Research shows Racial Typification of crime
  increases punitiveness (Chiricos et al. 2005)
• Racial Typification may mobilize control measures
  against a perceived threatening sub-population

Does Racial Typification Of Crime Have An
Independent Effect On Support For or Opposition
To Felon Enfranchisement?
7
Methodology

• Random Sample of 1,575 Adult respondents in the
  state of Florida
• Interviews conducted via telephone between
  January and April 2005
• 96 of all interviews completed
• Overall response rate 39
• FL demographics generally in line with sample,
  slight over-representation along expected lines
  (e.g. Female, Age, White)

8
Dependent Variables

• RESCIND On that scale of zero to ten, with 0
  being no support and 10 being strongest
  support, How much would you support
• Taking away the right to vote for convicted
  felons?
• RESTORE Please tell me if you STRONGLY AGREE,
  AGREE, DISAGREE or STRONGLY DISAGREE with the
  following statements
• People convicted of a crime, who served their
  entire sentence and are now living in the
  community, should have the right to vote.
• People who were convicted of a violent crime who
  served their entire sentence and are now living
  in the community should have the right to vote.

9
Analysis

• Analysis using OLS Regression on the 2 dependent
  variables
• Analysis did not reveal problems in
• multi-colinearity or heteroskedasticity
• PCA Factor Analysis for indices created with
  forced one factor solution
• Means replacement used for missing data in
  independent variables
• Contextual effects explored in subsequent models

10
Variables in Models
plt.05 plt.01
11
RESCIND Rights
12
RESTORE Rights
13
RESTORE (Contextual)
14
Findings

• Racial Typification of Crime mobilizes social
  control independently of punitive attitudes
• Punitiveness is the strongest predictor
• Contextual effects matter
• Racial typification matters most in contexts that
  are otherwise less punitive
• A ceiling effect that may be in play in those
  contexts where punitiveness is high.

15
Theoretical Relevance

• Uggen and Monza, 2002
• National estimates of 29 voter turnout among
  felons, 70 Democratic
• Republican presidential victory of 2000 would
  have been reversed had ex-felons been allowed to
  vote
• Election impact in Florida
• 2002 8,000 ex-felons erroneously "scrubbed" from
  FL voter registrations for misdemeanors.
• 2004 felon voter purge tried to exclude 47,000
  felons from the roles (1/10th of 1 were Hispanic
  in a state that is 20 Hispanic).
• Estimated 31 of black males ineligible to vote
  due to felony convictions (7 total population).

16
Future Research

• Refinement of the measures.
• Structural models that seek to establish the
  interrelation of Punitive Attitudes, Racial
  Typification, and Political Activity on support
  for Disenfranchisement.
• Multi-Level models that include community factors
  that may influence these interrelations.