The Annals of the American Academy of Political & Social Science: Detaining Democracy? Criminal Justice and American Civic Life

Criminal justice has become a key way that citizens and communities interact with their state. And yet we know strikingly little about its political and civic effects. In this volume, scholars from several disciplines consider the consequences of criminal justice for democratic life in the United States.

In particular, the contributors to this volume ask:

1. What are the consequences of America’s high rate of incarceration and criminal justice contact for citizenship and civic life?

2. What are the implications of the disparate racial impacts of these criminal justice policies for the political inclusion and voice of minorities and ability of their communities to achieve collective ends?

3. Does seeing how these policies shape the life chances of citizens and inequality of the broader society change our view of how the state operates and governs its citizens?