Public opinion and the politics of collateral consequence policies

We analyze data from a national sample of the U.S. population to assess public support for policies that deny former offenders’ access to job training programs, food stamps, and public housing. We find that Americans generally oppose benefit restrictions, though support for these policies is higher...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Johnston, Travis (Author)
Contributors: Wozniak, Kevin H
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
In: Punishment & society
Year: 2021, Volume: 23, Issue: 2, Pages: 190-217
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Welfare
Racism
Public Opinion
Politics
invisible punishments
Framing
Collateral consequences
Description
Summary:We analyze data from a national sample of the U.S. population to assess public support for policies that deny former offenders’ access to job training programs, food stamps, and public housing. We find that Americans generally oppose benefit restrictions, though support for these policies is higher among Republicans and people with higher levels of racial resentment. We also find that a legislator’s criminal justice reform positions generally do not significantly affect voters’ evaluation of him or her, and even voters with more punitive attitudes toward collateral consequence policies support legislators who advance particular kinds of reform proposals. These findings provide little evidence that any group of Americans would be mobilized to vote against a legislator who works to reform collateral consequence policies. We discuss the implications of these findings for American and comparative studies of the politics of punishment.
ISSN:1741-3095
DOI:10.1177/1462474520941942