5.4 million Americans-1 in every 40 voting age adults- are denied the right to participate in democratic elections because of a past or current felony conviction. In several American states, 1 in 4 black men cannot vote due to a felony conviction. In a country that prides itself on universal suffrage, how did the United States come to deny a voice to such a large percentage of its citizenry? What are the consequences of large-scale disenfranchisement-both for
election outcomes, and for public policy more generally? Locked Out exposes one of the most important, yet little known, threats to the health of American democracy today. It reveals the centrality of racial factors in the origins of these laws, and their impact on politics today. Marshalling the
first real empirical evidence on the issue to make a case for reform, the authors' path-breaking analysis will inform all future policy and political debates on the laws governing the political rights of criminals.
- ISBN10 6610833494
- ISBN13 9786610833498
- Publish Date 1 January 2006
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 29 February 2012
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Oxford University Press
- Format eBook
- Pages 384
- Language English