Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences Of American Crime Control

"Lerman and Weaver consider the policy feedback effects of the carceral state. Starting in the 1970s, there has been a consistent uptick in the number of people held in correctional facilities in the United States—we have five per cent of the world’s population, but 25 per cent of the world’s incarcerated population. Social scientists have considered why this is happening, now they are increasingly turning to the consequences of mass incarceration. The literature around collateral consequences is vast. We know there are social and economic consequences. Lerman and Weaver examine the political consequences. They found that, when we arrest individuals, we are also arresting citizenship. “The US has five per cent of the world’s population, but 25 per cent of the world’s incarcerated population” Individuals’ encounters with the carceral state—whether it’s when they get pulled over by the police, whether they are in jail for a short period of time or whether they are in prison for a longer period time and how they are limited by their history of incarceration even after their release—all along this path people are learning about the government and their identity as citizens is being forged by the harshest face of government. The people who are experiencing that are disproportionately African-American and Latino, and overwhelmingly low-income. We are imprisoning much of the poorest and most marginal segment of our population. That has tremendous implications for our democracy. Eventually most of these folks are released, but they remain hindered as citizens both because of formal impediments, like felon disenfranchisement, and because they have learned that, in the eyes of the state, they are not full citizens. “We are imprisoning much of the poorest and most marginal segment of our population” What this means is that the millions of people who are incarcerated in American correctional facilities are not only being temporarily separated from the population by imprisonment but more permanently segmented from the polity. Lerman and Weaver force us to grapple with difficult questions about who is excluded from our democracy and why. They provide empirical evidence, tracing the effect of the carceral state on political participation. They look at a number of surveys, including the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. They looked at respondents who had contact with the criminal justice system and identified whether they were as active politically as similar folks. They clearly establish that experience with the criminal justice system dampens proclivity to engage with the political system. Weaver and Lerman also assess qualitative data, interviews, and conclude that incarceration conveys the stamp of second-class citizenship, not just during time in custody but permanently. The formerly incarcerated are less likely to vote and less likely to become involved in the political system at all. The book draws on multiple sources to provide a convincing range of evidence for this conclusion. President Trump and the Republicans are coming up against the politics of policymaking as they attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. A share of citizens are afraid of losing their health care, so Republicans are facing significant resistance from their constituents. Republicans are asking how repeal will affect their ability to hold office. So the politics of policy are at the fore. “A new politics is being created by the policies that this administration has already put forth” A new politics is being created by the policies that this administration has already put forth through executive orders and that they are promising to put forth, in partnership with the Republican Congress, in the coming months. What will the purported wall and the various bans on people coming from disfavored countries mean for the participation of Latino and Muslim communities? The Attorney General is indicating an inclination to allow voter ID laws and other state-level voter suppression efforts to go forward unchallenged. That will have an enormous political impact. We’ve seen the political reverberations of these policies already—through protests at a scale that is uncommon so soon after an election. It’s going to be interesting and it’s going to be harrowing to see how these polices play out. Our democracy might become more awake and more inclusive. Or our democracy might be undermined, weakened, unequal or closed off. It’s an open question. And the answer depends, in part, on all of us."