Felony disenfranchisement in America
Subtitle: historical origins, institutional racism, and modern consequences
By: Katherine Irene Pettus
Edition: 2nd ed.
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 296
ISBN-13: 9781438447209
Subjects: Administration of Criminal justice; Prisoners; Suffrage
Description: Overview: Reveals how state felony disenfranchisement laws are undermining American democracy. State felony disenfranchisement laws that date back to Reconstruction fracture the American electorate into "those who are citizens in the fullest sense of the term," in Aristotle's words, and those who, deprived of political voice, still have the status of slaves. The existence of this "invisible constituency" - approximately 5.8 million or 2.5% of the national voting population - who live alongside the "ruling" enfranchised electorate - is one of the scandals of our generation. In this second edition of Felony Disenfranchisement in America, Katherine Irene Pettus draws on philosophy, history, law, and punishment theory to make the compelling argument that state disenfranchisement policies have collective moral and political significance that transcends the personal tragedy of being legally deprived of full citizenship status. Pettus argues that the war on drugs, mass incarceration, and racially unbalanced disenfranchisement rates distort and disfigure the body politic as a whole, and undermine the legitimacy of the domestic and foreign policies promulgated by our elected representatives.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.