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III. CURRENT IMPACT OF DISENFRANCHISEMENT LAWS

National Impact

The scale of the impact of criminal disenfranchisement laws is quantitatively different than at any time in the nation’s history. Using national conviction and corrections on data, we estimate that 3.9 million Americans, including 1.4 million black men, cannot vote because of felony convictions.21 These national figures mask wide disparities among the states. We have now undertaken the first-ever state-by-state analysis of the impact of criminal disenfranchisement laws, drawing on corrections data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and state-level data compiled by various law enforcement and court agencies. (A complete description of the methodology used can be found in the Appendix.)

Table 2 presents our findings on the current impact of voting restrictions, broken down by state. The figures reported here should be considered as estimates because complete data were not available for every state.22 In addition, individual voting practices within the states may or may not conform to state law. This is a result both of inaccurate record-keeping in some instances and misinformation in others. In states that disenfranchise ex-felons, election officials do not always have ready access to felony conviction data, and some ex-felons may vote. In other states where ex-felons are permitted to vote, released prisoners are not necessarily informed of this right and often incorrectly believe that they can never vote again.

Our analysis reveals that the national rate of disenfranchisement, and particularly that of black men, remains at substantial levels. Not surprisingly, states that disenfranchise felons for life have far greater numbers of disenfranchised adults than other states. Our findings include:


· A total of 3.9 million adults, or 2.0 percent of the eligible voting population, is currently or permanently disenfranchised as a result of a felony conviction.

· Six states—Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wyoming—exclude from the vote more than 4 percent of their adult population, or more than one in twenty-five.

· Florida and Texas each disenfranchise more than 600,000 people.

· Alabama, California and Virginia each disenfranchise close to a quarter of a million persons.

Table 3 provides a breakdown of the number of persons disenfranchised for felony convictions who are in prison, on probation or parole or have completed serving their sentences. It reveals that:

· Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the disenfranchised are not in prison, but are on probation, or parole or have completed their sentences.

· 1.4 million of the disenfranchised are ex-offenders.

· Five states—Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia—each disenfranchise more than 125,000 ex-felons. One-third of all disenfranchised ex-felons (436,900) are in Florida.

· One million people of the disenfranchised were only sentenced to probation and not to prison. Texas disenfranchises nearly a quarter of a million people (234,200) on probation.

Racial Impact

State disenfranchisement laws have a dramatically disproportionate racial impact. Thirteen percent of all adult black men—1.4 million—are disenfranchised, representing one-third of the total disenfranchised population and reflecting a rate of disenfranchisement that is seven times the national average. Election voting statistics offer an approximation of the political importance of black disenfranchisement: 1.4 million black men are disenfranchised compared to 4.6 million black men who voted in 1996.23

The racial impact in certain individual states is extraordinary:

· In Alabama and Florida, 31 percent of all black men are permanently disenfranchised.

· In five other states—Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wyoming—one in four black men (24 to 28 percent) is permanently disenfranchised. In Washington state, one in four of black men (24 percent) are currently or permanently disenfranchised.24

· In Delaware, one in five black men (20 percent) is permanently disenfranchised.

· In Texas, one in five black men (20.8 percent) is currently disenfranchised.

· In four states—Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin—16 to 18 percent of black men are currently disenfranchised.

TABLE 2: Disenfranchised Felons by State

State

Total Felons

Rate for Total*

Black Men

Rate for Black Men**

Alabama

241,100

7.5%

105,000

31.5%

Alaska

4,900

1.2%

500

6.3%

Arizona

74,600

2.3%

6,600

12.1%

Arkansas

27,400

1.5%

10,700

9.2%

California

241,400

1.0%

69,500

8.7%

Colorado

15,700

0.6%

3,500

6.1%

Connecticut

42,200

1.7%

13,700

14.8%

Delaware

20,500

3.7%

8,700

20.0%

District of Columbia

8,700

2.0%

8,100

7.2%

Florida

647,100

5.9%

204,600

31.2%

Georgia

134,800

2.5%

66,400

10.5%

Hawaii

3,000

0.3%

100

0.9%

Idaho

3,800

0.5%

100

2.7%

Illinois

38,900

0.4%

24,100

4.5%

Indiana

16,800

0.4%

6,800

4.6%

Iowa

42,300

2.0%

4,800

26.5%

Kansas

7,800

0.4%

2,800

5.6%

Kentucky

24,000

0.8%

7,000

7.7%

Louisiana

26,800

0.9%

19,600

4.8%

Maine

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

Maryland

135,700

3.6%

67,900

15.4%

Massachusetts

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

Michigan

42,300

0.6%

22,700

5.4%

Minnesota

56,000

1.6%

7,200

17.8%

Mississippi

145,600

7.4%

81,700

28.6%

Missouri

58,800

1.5%

20,100

11.3%

Montana

2,100

0.3%

0

2.9%

Nebraska

11,900

1.0%

2,100

10.2%

Nevada

16,800

1.4%

4,000

10.0%

New Hampshire

2,100

0.2%

100

3.8%

New Jersey

138,300

2.3%

65,200

17.7%

New Mexico

48,900

4.0%

3,700

24.1%

New York

126,800

0.9%

62,700

6.2%

North Carolina

96,700

1.8%

46,900

9.2%

North Dakota

700

0.1%

0

1.1%

Ohio

46,200

0.6%

23,800

6.2%

Oklahoma

37,200

1.5%

9,800

12.3%

Oregon

7,300

0.3%

900

4.5%

Pennsylvania

34,500

0.4%

18,900

5.2%

Rhode Island

13,900

1.8%

2,800

18.3%

South Carolina

48,300

1.7%

26,100

7.6%

South Dakota

2,100

0.4%

100

3.5%

Tennessee

97,800

2.4%

38,300

14.5%

Texas

610,000

4.5%

156,600

20.8%

Utah

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

Vermont

0

0.0%

0

0.0%

Virginia

269,800

5.3%

110,000

25.0%

Washington

151,500

3.7%

16,700

24.0%

West Virginia

6,700

0.5%

900

4.4%

Wisconsin

48,500

1.3%

14,900

18.2%

Wyoming

14,100

4.1%

400

27.7%

         

U.S. Total

3,892,400

2.0%

1,367,100

13.1%

* Percentage of adult population who are disenfranchised.

**Percentage of black men who are disenfranchised.

TABLE 3: Disenfranchised Felons by State and Correctional Status

State

Disenfranchised Population

 

Prison

Probation

Parole

Ex-felons

Total

Alabama

21,100

21,300

5,200

193,500

241,100

Alaska

2,300

2,100

600

0

4,900

Arizona

21,600

23,800

3,800

25,400

74,600

Arkansas

9,000

13,200

5,100

0

27,400

California

144,400

0

97,100

0

241,400

Colorado

12,400

0

3,300

0

15,700

Connecticut

10,300

30,800

1,100

0

42,200

Delaware

3,100

9,100

1,000

7,300

20,500

District of Columbia

8,700

0

0

0

8,700

Florida

63,700

137,200

9,200

436,900

647,100

Georgia

34,300

79,300

21,100

0

134,800

Hawaii

3,000

0

0

0

3,000

Idaho

3,800

0

0

0

3,800

Illinois

38,900

0

0

0

38,900

Indiana

16,800

0

0

0

16,800

Iowa

6,300

8,500

2,200

25,300

42,300

Kansas

7,800

0

0

0

7,800

Kentucky

12,900

6,400

4,600

n/a

24,000

Louisiana

26,800

0

0

0

26,800

Maine

0

0

0

0

0

Maryland

21,000

38,800

16,200

59,700

135,700

Massachusetts

0

0

0

0

0

Michigan

42,300

0

0

0

42,300

Minnesota

5,200

48,400

2,400

0

56,000

Mississippi

13,600

5,500

1,500

125,000

145,600

Missouri

22,000

24,600

12,200

0

48,800

Montana

2,100

0

0

0

2,100

Nebraska

3,200

8,000

700

0

11,900

Nevada

8,200

5,400

3,200

n/a

16,800

New Hampshire

2,100

0

0

0

2,100

New Jersey

27,500

69,200

41,500

0

138,300

New Mexico

4,500

4,900

1,400

38,000

48,900

New York

69,700

0

57,100

0

126,800

North Carolina

27,900

56,400

12,400

0

96,700

North Dakota

700

0

0

0

700

Ohio

46,200

0

0

0

46,200

Oklahoma

19,600

15,400

2,200

0

37,200

Oregon

7,300

0

0

0

7,300

Pennsylvania

34,500

0

0

0

34,500

Rhode Island

2,000

11,200

600

0

13,900

South Carolina

19,800

23,100

5,400

0

48,300

South Dakota

2,100

0

0

0

2,100

Tennessee

15,600

20,600

8,900

52,700

97,800

Texas

132,400

234,200

112,600

130,800

610,000

Utah

0

0

0

0

0

Vermont

0

0

0

0

0

Virginia

27,100

16,300

9,900

216,600

269,800

Washington

12,500

68,900

600

69,500

151,500

West Virginia

2,700

3,100

900

0

6,700

Wisconsin

11,900

28,400

8,100

0

48,500

Wyoming

1,500

1,900

400

10,400

14,100

           

U.S. Total

1,032,300

1,016,000

452,600

1,391,000

3,892,400

Note: Columns and rows may not always sum exactly due to rounding.

· In nine states—Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Tennessee—10 to 15 percent of black men are currently disenfranchised.

21 These figures differ slightly from national estimates produced by The Sentencing Project in 1997 because we have now been able to undertake a more in-depth analysis of the number of ex-felons in the states that disenfranchise for life. See Marc Mauer, “Intended and Unintended Consequences: State Racial Disparities in Imprisonment,” The Sentencing Project, January 1997. Figures in Table 2 for Kentucky and Nevada for both the total disenfranchised population and for black men represent low estimates due to the inability to obtain the data necessary to develop estimates for the number of ex-felons.

22 Statistics on ex-felons are improving as states seek to meet requirements of federal gun registration legislation (the “Brady” law), but substantial gaps remain in many states.

23 U.S. Census Bureau, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 1996 (P20-504), (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau, July 1998).

24 In Washington, persons in prison, on probation or on parole are currently disenfranchised. In addition, persons convicted of a felony prior to July 1, 1984 are permanently disenfranchised.

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