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One felon, no vote: The role of racial threat in felon disenfranchisement laws across the United States

Fredriksson, Klara LU (2017) STVK02 20162
Department of Political Science
Abstract
This thesis looks at the role played by racial threat mechanisms in the persistence of felon disenfranchisement laws across the 50 American states. The US has a long history of disenfranchising its felons, and the motivations behind implementation of these laws has been mixed.
The analysis employs two main theoretical frameworks: one of racial threat as an activating mechanism of mass opinion, as well as one of elite mobilization of the white electorate through the exploitation of racial threat mechanisms, to explain the differences between states in strictness of felon disenfranchisement laws. It employs felon disenfranchisement as a type of social control, and tests it as such.
The states were divided into two groups based on... (More)
This thesis looks at the role played by racial threat mechanisms in the persistence of felon disenfranchisement laws across the 50 American states. The US has a long history of disenfranchising its felons, and the motivations behind implementation of these laws has been mixed.
The analysis employs two main theoretical frameworks: one of racial threat as an activating mechanism of mass opinion, as well as one of elite mobilization of the white electorate through the exploitation of racial threat mechanisms, to explain the differences between states in strictness of felon disenfranchisement laws. It employs felon disenfranchisement as a type of social control, and tests it as such.
The states were divided into two groups based on strictness of laws, and compared. The theories are translated into six hypotheses, which are tested in two statistical models. The analysis does not find purchase for either of the two models, however, as only one hypothesis is found to be a significant predictor for the felon disenfranchisement behavior of a state. (Less)
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author
Fredriksson, Klara LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK02 20162
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Felon disenfranchisement, Group threat theory, Voting rights, Racial resentment, Criminal justice
language
English
id
8897590
date added to LUP
2017-02-08 14:26:47
date last changed
2017-02-08 14:26:47
@misc{8897590,
  abstract     = {{This thesis looks at the role played by racial threat mechanisms in the persistence of felon disenfranchisement laws across the 50 American states. The US has a long history of disenfranchising its felons, and the motivations behind implementation of these laws has been mixed.
The analysis employs two main theoretical frameworks: one of racial threat as an activating mechanism of mass opinion, as well as one of elite mobilization of the white electorate through the exploitation of racial threat mechanisms, to explain the differences between states in strictness of felon disenfranchisement laws. It employs felon disenfranchisement as a type of social control, and tests it as such.
The states were divided into two groups based on strictness of laws, and compared. The theories are translated into six hypotheses, which are tested in two statistical models. The analysis does not find purchase for either of the two models, however, as only one hypothesis is found to be a significant predictor for the felon disenfranchisement behavior of a state.}},
  author       = {{Fredriksson, Klara}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{One felon, no vote: The role of racial threat in felon disenfranchisement laws across the United States}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}