Disenfranchisement and Civic Reintegration: Felons Speak Out

The survey results described in Chapter 5 provide useful information about the political orientations of people who have had contact with the criminal justice system. Yet those results also suggest new questions: why offenders hold the political views they do, and how those views are driven by underlying values or dispositions, how they are not well captured by a survey instrument (however well designed). This chapter begins to address these issues using information from in-depth interviews. These interviews allow felons to articulate their views within their own frames rather than those provided by survey questions. Respondents were asked questions such as the following: What kinds of political experiences have you had? Do you expect to participate in politics in the future? Are any political issues especially salient to you, and if so, why? How did losing the right to vote affect your ideas about being a part of a community, and about your government?.