Social Exclusion as a State-Level Predictor of Changes in Collateral Sanctions

Abstract

Collateral sanctions are civil penalties or disabilities imposed upon people who are arrested, charged, or convicted of a crime. Little research is available concerning state-level predictors of these policies in the United States. Current research suggests that racial threat and political conservatism are associated with harsher sanctions or more restrictions in the realms of employment, housing, social benefits, and other categories. Using state report cards from the Legal Action Center, this study builds on existing knowledge by testing the relationship between state-level variables consistent with a social exclusion framework and collateral sanctions policies while also testing the relationship between social exclusion and changes in these policies over time. Results indicate that higher levels of social exclusion, measured by affordable housing scarcity, public benefit usage, and state fiscal health, may play a role in the adoption of state collateral sanction policies over time. In contrast to previous research, results offer mixed evidence regarding the relationship between the racial makeup of the state and the adoption of collateral sanctions policies. Policy implications are discussed.

Criminal Justice Contact and Indebtedness in Young Adulthood: Investigating the Potential Role of State-level Hidden Sentences

“…Finally, state characteristics can play a role in the consequences of incarceration (Hagan et al 2020) and individual patterns of indebtedness (Houle, Bruch, and Berger 2019;Ratcliffe et al 2016), and may therefore confound our association of interest. Recent research shows that laws and policies at the state level, including hidden sentences, are correlated with state sociodemographic characteristics, welfare generosity, and the state incarceration rate (Plassmeyer and Sliva 2018). State sociodemographic characteristics are from the U.S. Census Bureau decennial census and American Community Survey, and include residence in a Southern state (1 = yes), the percent of the state that is non-Hispanic black, the percent of residents with a 4-year degree or higher, and the unemployment rate.…”

Criminal history inquiries and minority threat in the legal profession: An analysis of law school and state bar admission applications

“…Collateral consequences excluding individuals with a criminal record from the body politic (e.g., voting, jury service, public office, etc.) are also concentrated in jurisdictions with larger minority populations (Behrens et al, 2003; Ewald, 2012; for a review, see Plassmeyer & Sliva, 2018). For example, Behrens et al (2003, p. 569) find that states with a larger non‐white prison population were more likely to pass felon voter disenfranchisement laws after emancipation, seemingly in response to the perceived threat of “the menace of negro domination.” In line with the minority threat perspective, this relationship is negative in states with a critical mass of non‐white prisoners.…”