Graduation Semester and Year

2019

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Public and Urban Administration

Department

Public Administration

First Advisor

Unknown

Abstract

In developing an understanding of political participation among historically underrepre-sented groups, a disproportionate number of African Americans receiving punishment (prison sentences) is an issue that warrants consideration when calculating voter turnout. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 protects the voting rights of people regardless of race or ethnicity. The in-creasing incarceration rate of African American men, popularly known as mass incarceration, is a criminal justice phenomenon ongoing since the 1980’s. This research focuses primarily on the relationship between voter turnout, general and more specifically African Americans, and mass incarceration. The study examines twelve General (Presidential) Elections since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through the 2012 election. In addition to incarceration rates of Af-rican Americans, other factors were also examined because it was not to be assumed that mass incarceration was the sole factor in people’s voting behavior. For each state, household incomes, college educated habitants, the percentage of the pop-ulation that is African American, and the percentage of the population that is impoverished were some of the variables considered, resulting in 600 observations. The goal was to determine if there is a correlation between voter turnout and incarceration rates among African Americans. In other words, during the years of high incarceration rates were there significant drops in voter turnout. Quantitative methods were used to examine a possible correlation. The findings suggest, however, that there is no significant correlation in overall voter turnout and mass incarceration of African Americans, but there is a statistical relationship between African American voter turnout and mass incarceration of African Americans.

Keywords

Mass incarceration, Voter turnout

Disciplines

Public Affairs | Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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