Agency, Structure and Context: An Examination of the Repeal of Criminal Disenfranchisement in California.

In the United States, ex-convicts, parolees, probationers, and prisoners are denied voting rights on a scale unmatched among democratic nations. Scholars have attempted to explain the social, legal, and political processes that have led to a vastly differing array of sanctions across the U.S., and have found consistent evidence that punitive criminal disenfranchisement policies are linked to race. Little historical research exists explaining how and why certain states have retained disenfranchisement while others have changed these laws to restore voting rights. This paper examines California's history of disenfranchisement, the harshest elements of which were repealed in 1974 by Proposition 10. The findings suggest that repeal of disenfranchisement may be linked to the presence of reform-minded African-American legislators, and to the presence and activities of advocacy organizations. The paper also questions previous assumptions about political processes related to criminal justice policy, and also probes the depth of American voters' demands for more punitive approaches to crime. Ultimately, this research suggests that the nature and extent of media coverage of criminal justice policy issues is an important factor in the political feasibility of reform. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]