IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/apsrev/v104y2010i04p817-833_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Political Consequences of the Carceral State

Author

Listed:
  • WEAVER, VESLA M.
  • LERMAN, AMY E.

Abstract

Contact with the criminal justice system is greater today than at any time in our history. In this article, we argue that interactions with criminal justice are an important source of political socialization, in which the lessons that are imprinted are antagonistic to democratic participation and inspire negative orientations toward government. To test this argument, we conduct the first systematic empirical exploration of how criminal justice involvement shapes the citizenship and political voice of a growing swath of Americans. We find that custodial involvement carries with it a substantial civic penalty that is not explained by criminal propensity or socioeconomic differences alone. Given that the carceral state has become a routine site of interaction between government and citizens, institutions of criminal justice have emerged as an important force in defining citizen participation and understandings, with potentially dire consequences for democratic ideals.

Suggested Citation

  • Weaver, Vesla M. & Lerman, Amy E., 2010. "Political Consequences of the Carceral State," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 104(4), pages 817-833, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:104:y:2010:i:04:p:817-833_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003055410000456/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Skarbek, David, 2016. "Covenants without the Sword? Comparing Prison Self-Governance Globally," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(4), pages 845-862, November.
    2. Gayitri Kavita Indar & Christine Sharon Barrow & Warren E. Whitaker, 2023. "A Convergence of Violence: Structural Violence Experiences of K–12, Black, Disabled Males across Multiple Systems," Laws, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-21, September.
    3. Becky Pettit & Carmen Gutierrez, 2018. "Mass Incarceration and Racial Inequality," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(3-4), pages 1153-1182, May.
    4. Christopher Muller & Daniel Schrage, 2014. "Mass Imprisonment and Trust in the Law," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 139-158, January.
    5. repec:pri:crcwel:wp11-19-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Heather Millar & Matthew Lesch & Linda A. White, 2019. "Connecting models of the individual and policy change processes: a research agenda," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 52(1), pages 97-118, March.
    7. Michael Leo Owens, 2014. "Ex-Felons’ Organization-Based Political Work for Carceral Reforms," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 256-265, January.
    8. Christopher Maggio, 2021. "State‐level immigration legislation and social life: The impact of the “show me your papers” laws," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(4), pages 1654-1685, July.
    9. David Skarbek, 2014. "Prisonomics: Lessons from America's Mass Incarceration," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 411-421, October.
    10. Skarbek, David, 2012. "Prison gangs, norms, and organizations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 96-109.
    11. Hunnicutt, Patrick & Henderson, Geoffrey, 2023. "Particulates Matter: Policy Failures, Air Pollution, and Collective Political Participation in the United States," Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Working Paper Series qt51h8846s, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California.
    12. Mooney, Alyssa C. & Neilands, Torsten B. & Giannella, Eric & Morris, Meghan D. & Tulsky, Jacqueline & Glymour, M. Maria, 2019. "Effects of a voter initiative on disparities in punishment severity for drug offenses across California counties," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 9-19.
    13. Kaitlyn Woltz, 2022. "David Skarbek, The Puzzle of Prison Order: Why Life Behind Bars Varies Around the World," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 135-141, March.
    14. Anna Harvey, 2020. "Applying regression discontinuity designs to American political development," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 377-399, December.
    15. Jingjing Zeng & Meng Yuan & Richard Feiock, 2019. "What Drives People to Complain about Environmental Issues? An Analysis Based on Panel Data Crossing Provinces of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, February.
    16. Benjamin Lessing, 2017. "Counterproductive punishment: How prison gangs undermine state authority," Rationality and Society, , vol. 29(3), pages 257-297, August.
    17. Hedwig Lee & Lauren C. Porter & Megan Comfort, 2014. "Consequences of Family Member Incarceration," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 44-73, January.
    18. Vesla M. Weaver & Jacob S. Hacker & Christopher Wildeman, 2014. "Detaining Democracy? Criminal Justice and American Civic Life," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 6-21, January.
    19. Benjamin Justice & Tracey L. Meares, 2014. "How the Criminal Justice System Educates Citizens," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 159-177, January.
    20. Amy E. Lerman & Vesla Weaver, 2014. "Staying out of Sight? Concentrated Policing and Local Political Action," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 651(1), pages 202-219, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:104:y:2010:i:04:p:817-833_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/psr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.