A Jury of One’s Peers : Felon Jury Exclusion and Racial Inequality in Georgia Courts

African-Americans are overrepresented in felony convictions and, thus, more likely to be excluded from jury service. This study examines the potential impact of felon jury exclusion on the proportion of African-Americans that remain eligible for jury service. Results indicate that felon jury exclusion dramatically reduces the pool of eligible African-Americans statewide by nearly one-third. Furthermore, the level of exclusion for all groups is concentrated in areas with higher African-American populations. When limiting the analysis to African-Americans, however, counties with low African-American populations tend to have the highest levels of African-American exclusion. OLS regression models support the notion that the concentration of African-Americans at the county level is a significant factor in all three model specifications. The nature of this relationship, however, changes dramatically across the models

Imprisonment Inertia and Public Attitudes Toward Truth in Sentencing

In the space of a few short years in the 1990s, forty-two states adopted truth in sentencing (“TIS”) laws, which eliminated or greatly curtailed opportunities for criminal defendants to obtain parole release from prison. In the following decade, the pendulum seemingly swung in the opposite direction, with thirty-six states adopting new early release opportunities for prisoners. However, few of these initiatives had much impact, and prison populations continued to rise. The TIS ideal remained strong. In the hope of developing a better understanding of these trends and of the prospects for more robust early release reforms in the future, the authors conducted public opinion surveys of hundreds of Wisconsin voters in 2012 and 2013 and report the results here. Notable findings include the following: (1) public support for TIS is strong and stable; (2) support for TIS results less from fear of crime than from a dislike of the parole decisionmaking process (which helps to explain why support for TIS has remained strong even as crime rates have fallen sharply); (3) support for TIS is not absolute and inflexible, but is balanced against such competing objectives as cost-reduction and offender rehabilitation, (4) a majority of the public would favor release as early as the halfway point in a prison sentence if public safety would not be threatened, and (5) a majority would prefer to have release decisions made by a commission of experts instead of a judge

Public Attitudes Toward Punishment, Rehabilitation, and Reform: Lessons from the Marquette Law School Poll

Since the late 1990s, many opinion surveys have suggested that the American public may be growing somewhat less punitive and more open to reforms that emphasize rehabilitation over incarceration. In order to assess current attitudes toward punishment, rehabilitation, and the criminal justice system, we collected survey data of 804 registered voters in Wisconsin. Among other notable results, we found strong support for rehabilitation and for the early release of prisoners who no longer pose a threat to public safety. However, we also found significant divisions in public opinion. For instance, while black and white respondents largely shared the same priorities for the criminal justice system, black respondents tended to see the system as less successful in achieving those priorities. Additionally, we found significant differences in the views of Democrats and Republicans, with Republicans more likely to favor punishment as a top priority and Democrats more likely to support rehabilitation. Finally, we found that survey respondents that hold negative views of African Americans are significantly less likely to support rehabilitation, even after statistically controlling for the other variables in the model

Exoffender Accounts of Successful Reentry from Prison

Reentry research often focuses on those who have recidivated, with little work addressing the experiences of those who successfully reintegrate into their communities. This study examines individual accounts of successful transitions from prison to community in the months and years postrelease. Interview data point to three metanarratives used to make sense of reentry: as reverence, as reunification, and as reconstruction. In different ways, each narrative centers on connections to important others through faith, family, or community. We discuss the legitimacy of the self-narratives offered, and add to a growing body of work exploring reentry via the lens of the exoffender

Disentangling the Relationship Between Race and Attitudes Toward the Police: Police Contact, Perceptions of Safety, and Procedural Justice

Recent incidents involving police shootings of unarmed men of color have increased tensions between communities and police departments across the United States. In response, scholars have intensified efforts to understand the factors that shape attitudes toward the police. The current study examines individual and aggregate factors that influence satisfaction with the police. To this end, we address three research questions: (a) are there significant racial/ethnic differences in satisfaction with police; (b) do these differences persist after accounting for experiences with the police, perceptions of safety, and aggregate measures; and (c) can procedural justice help explain racial variation in attitudes toward the police? Study findings highlight the importance of perceptions of safety in explaining racial/ethnic variation in attitudes toward the police

Violent Crime And Punitiveness: An Empirical Study Of Public Opinion

Evidence suggests that the public favors tough punishment for individuals who have been convicted of violent crimes, but why? In order to better understand the factors that contribute to punitive attitudes toward violent crime, or “V-punitiveness,” we analyze data from a recent survey of Wisconsin voters as a part of the Marquette Law School Poll. In sum, respondents generally supported prison terms for individuals convicted of violent crime, but this support was not unwavering and unconditional. While analysis of these data identified several variables that correspond with higher levels of Vpunitiveness, neither fear of violent crime nor personal experiences were among them. Instead, V-punitiveness seems more closely tied to broader sets of social beliefs regarding individual responsibility, traditional values, and the like. Our results suggest that tough responses to violent crime may be supported more for expressive than instrumental reasons. Thus, efforts to change public policy in this area may need to contend with expressive considerations. If reformers wish to change minds about legal responses to violent crime, instrumental arguments based simply on “what works” in reducing violent recidivism may come up short

Imprisonment Inertia and Public Attitudes Toward Truth in Sentencing

In the space of a few short years in the 1990s, forty-two states adopted truth in sentencing (“TIS”) laws, which eliminated or greatly curtailed opportunities for criminal defendants to obtain parole release from prison. In the following decade, the pendulum seemingly swung in the opposite direction, with thirty-six states adopting new early release opportunities for prisoners. However, few of these initiatives had much impact, and prison populations continued to rise. The TIS ideal remained strong. In the hope of developing a better understanding of these trends and of the prospects for more robust early release reforms in the future, the authors conducted public opinion surveys of hundreds of Wisconsin voters in 2012 and 2013 and report the results here. Notable findings include the following: (1) public support for TIS is strong and stable; (2) support for TIS results less from fear of crime than from a dislike of the parole decisionmaking process (which helps to explain why support for TIS has remained strong even as crime rates have fallen sharply); (3) support for TIS is not absolute and inflexible, but is balanced against such competing objectives as cost-reduction and offender rehabilitation, (4) a majority of the public would favor release as early as the halfway point in a prison sentence if public safety would not be threatened, and (5) a majority would prefer to have release decisions made by a commission of experts instead of a judge

Managing the Socially Marginalized: Attitudes Towards Welfare, Punishment and Race

Welfare and incarceration policies have converged to form a system of governance over socially marginalized groups, particularly racial minorities. In both of these policy areas, rehabilitative and social support objectives have been replaced with a more punitive and restrictive system. The authors examine the convergence in individual-level attitudes concerning welfare and criminal punishment, using national survey data. The authors\u27 analysis indicates a statistically significant relationship between punitive attitudes toward welfare and punishment. Furthermore, accounting for the respondents\u27 racial attitudes explains the bivariate relationship between welfare and punishment. Thus, racial attitudes seemingly link support for punitive approaches to opposition to welfare expenditures. The authors discuss the implications of this study for welfare and crime control policies by way of the conclusion