The Contemporary Disenfranchisement Regime

This chapter analyzes the sources of rising rates of felon disenfranchisement and outlines some explanations for the growth of American correctional populations. The largest part of this growth is due to larger changes in the criminal justice system. The chapter explores the contours of growing rates of punishment in America, and notes how the nation's policies are remarkably out of step with the rest of the world. Perhaps surprisingly, this has not always been the case. Incarceration rates in the United States were quite stable for most of the twentieth century. It has only been in the final quarter of the century that dramatic changes have taken place, with incarceration and conviction rates skyrocketing in a short span of time.