How Certain Demographics Affect One’s Attitude Towards Convicted Felons Upon Release

Abstract

            This study aims to answer the question, how an individual’s demographics impact their attitudes towards convicted felons. This was conducted by having participants complete a self-report survey to answer a series of questions regarding their demographics and whether or not people convicted of felonies have access to certain privileges. Due to the limitations of this study the findings were null and do not support the hypothesis of demographics having an effect on attitudes. Demographics have not yet been proven to have an impact on an individual’s attitude towards convicted felons, leaving several possibilities on the table. They do not have any impact and more research needs to be done in order to further understand what does or a better study in regard to demographics needs to be conducted. Due to the null findings of this study, there are many avenues for future research to better understand attitudes towards convicted felons.

Introduction

            A common want among Americans is lower crime rates. When trying to understand how to lower these crime rates there are several different factors that need to be considered. One of them being the return rates for former inmates. Return rates are often lumped into incarceration rates and skew them, but they are important to look at by themselves. When looking at return rates the most important thing to look at is the criminal’s ability to reestablish themselves into the general society. One factor in their ability to reestablish themselves is how the general public views them once they have gained criminal status. People who have been committed of a crime, typically have a tainted reputation. While the tainted reputation is warranted, it impacts their lives in numerous ways. They often have a hard time obtaining housing and jobs. Oftentimes this inability to obtain such basic human needs causes criminals to revert back to the lifestyle that led them to commit the crime in the first place. This then leading them back into incarceration. Although some people may think they do not deserve help reintegrating themselves, it is important in order to break the cycle. The help that these people receive is often dependent on how people in there local society view them. Certain areas and people may tend to favor criminals better than others and it shows in the social services that are provided as well as the laws that are in place to protect the criminal and society. The attitudes of non criminals directly impacts the lives of convicted criminals, so when looking to decrease incarceration rates, specifically return rates, it is important to understand these attitudes. Convicted felons are considered a vulnerable population and can be risky to do studies on. Because of that, it may be easier to get an understanding of others’ attitudes towards them and then look into the hardships they face upon release. These different topics of study would help us to rehabilitate or even eliminate prison risk factors without making an already vulnerable population more vulnerable.

Literature Review

There has been some research done to understand Americans attitudes towards convicted felons, all kind of focusing on different elements. Though some research has been done on this topic it is not that extensive. The main factor that has been found to impact Americans attitudes towards convicted felons is race. According to a study done by David C. Wilson and his colleagues, preexisting racial attitudes plays a major factor in the treatment towards felons. People who already display racist ideologies towards minorities will be less likely to favor convicted felons, specifically African Americans, as they make up that population at disproportionate numbers. As every other system in the U.S. our imprisonment system faces systematic racism. A white convict will be more likely to have a positive experience in receiving rehabilitation or readjustment into the free world (Bontrager, Bales, and Chiricos 2005). To stay on the topic of race a study was done by Stephanie Bontrager and her colleagues, to find a correlation between race and conviction status. This study does not focus directly on the noncriminal population but the attitudes of the people who have the power to label these individuals, which has the potential to indirectly explain the attitudes of the broader population. Another factor that was studied in relation to individuals’ attitudes towards convicted felons was whether their crime was violent or not. A study conducted by James M Binnall and Nick Peterson, showed that different demographics of people have differing opinions even on things such as what they consider to be violent. These factors are very important when trying to understand different attitudes towards convicted felons. In a broader sense, Martha A Myers did a study on how personal and situational contingences of the convicted individual impact how a noncriminal civilians view them.

All of the studies previously mentioned can help us understand the results of a study done by Ted Chiricos and his colleagues, which explains how the labels placed on convicted felons leads to recidivism. This specific study of his demonstrates just how impactful it is to label someone and how that can play a factor in how their future plays out. When thinking about felons’ treatment upon release we can look at the study done by Cherie Dawson-Edwards, that talks about voting rights. It is highly debated whether or not they should regain this right upon sentence completion. This debate is a good look into how the general public view the reputation and humanity of convicted felons. In another study done by Jeff Manza, they also looked at this debate in relation to the passing of the Voting Rights Act. Although voting rights does not directly impact their reintegration in society it is a right that was taken away from them.

This previous research focuses on how the demographics of the convicted felon and not the noncriminal society. This has led me to conduct a research study to understand the correlation between the broader societies demographics and their attitudes convicted felons. I hypothesize that different demographic factors of people’s lives will contribute to their attitudes towards convicted felons.

Methods

Part I:

Participants

The participants in this study are from the Research Methods of Psychology section 803. It is a small, biased sample of students at Southern Methodist University. The number of participants is roughly 60.

Materials/ Stimuli

The only materials used in this study will be the participants’ source of internet they choose to take the survey on.

Design/ Variables

This study will utilize an online self-report survey in order to see if there is a correlation between demographics and attitude towards convicted felons. The independent variable is the demographics of the participants. The will be asked a series of questions regarding their demographics, that will then be scored to understand their minority status. The dependent variable is the participants’ attitude toward convicted felons. There will be several different questions for each variable to get a thorough understanding of the variables. Each of the questions’ answers will be analyzed individually.

Procedure

This self-report survey that will ask you some questions regarding your demographic background and your attitude toward convicted felons. None of these questions are required, as the participants can skip any question that they would like. The questions about one’s demographics will be used to group the participants into similar backgrounds. The questions about attitudes toward convicted felons will then be analyzed to see if there are similar answers among those who have similar demographic backgrounds. The questions will be on a survey produced in Qualtrics and should take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete, in a classroom setting. Their responses will then be taken from the Qualtrics survey and analyzed.

Part II:

https://smu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3NQZACXNLlmGt1A

Results

This study examined whether or not a person belonging to more minority or marginalized groups would make them more favorable towards convicted felons. The sample size for the study consisted of 15 females and 7 males, with the average age being 20.1 years old with a standard deviation of 1.5. There was a weak correlation between the score on demographics (M= 19.18, SD= 6.71), and the favorability of convicted felons (M= 17.86, SD= 1.67). The minority status of participants showed a r(21)= .232, df= 21, p=.300, the more likely they are to favor convicted felons. The mean score for demographics was 19, which is on the lower side, and deviated significantly. This shows that there is less diversity among participants, which is a important when trying to determine if one’s demographics impact their attitudes. The mean attitude was 17, which is on the lower side of the scale and did not deviate much. This shows that many of the participants do not favor convicted felons. The scores for favorability towards convicted felons was low but so were the scores for minority status. The significant deviation in the demographics further emphasizes the weak correlation between the two variables.

Discussion

My hypothesis was that the more someone identified with a minority or marginalized group, the more they would favor convicted felons. The results of my study do not support my hypothesis. My results from the survey were as expected. The more marginalized an individual is, the more likely they are to favor convicted felons. Although the data was not statistically significant and showed a weak correlation, although it seems to trend in the expected direction. There are several studies that focus on how the demographics of the felon impact societies views on them but not the demographics of the noncriminal society members. Continuing on this path of research will help us gain a better understanding of attitudes, demographically from both sides. My results were not significant, however they can still inform future research.

The topic of this study is important to American society because the elements that surround convicted felons (i.e. tax dollars, infrastructure, application precautions, etc.) impact everyone but it is not talked about a lot. It seems to be a nonissue to people even though it does effect them, On the basic level it impacts everyday Americans because it uses a lot of our tax dollars. From law enforcement, to running the correctional institutions, to providing them with governmental assistance once they are released. If we as a society were more proactive in keeping people out, tax funds could be allocated to other things people seem to view as more important.

Two important limitations in this study have to do with the sample. For starters, the sample size is too small. Only 22 people participated in the survey. In order to get a good understanding of Americans’ attitudes towards convicted felons, the sample size should be much larger. Because the sample size is so small, it is not representative. A very specific group of people who share important similarities participated in this study. This leads to a lot of invalidity throughout the study, making it unreliable. To build on this study, one could use different independent variables to test attitudes towards convicted felons among Americans. Instead of using many demographics and scoring them to be one independent variable, it might be beneficial to focus on one demographic, such as education. Then, just studying how one’s education level impacts their attitude toward convicted felons. Another study you could conduct to add on to this one could be a pre-test/post-test study. Where you give a survey to participants to capture their attitudes towards convicted felons, and then give them some articles to read on different topics that impact prison rates, then give them the same survey and see if their scores on the survey change. This can test for if they genuinely feel the way they do or if they are answering a certain way because they lack knowledge on the topic. This would also make the study experimental, strengthening its reliability. Conducting both of these studies in sequence of the current study would strengthen the results of the studies. 

References

Binnall, J. M., & Petersen, N. (2021). They’re just different: the bifurcation of public attitudes toward felon-jurors convicted of violent offenses. Crime, Law & Social Change, 75(1), 3–19. https://doi-org.proxy.libraries.smu.edu/10.1007/s10611-020-09912-3

BONTRAGER, S., BALES, W., & CHIRICOS, T. (2005). RACE, ETHNICITY, THREAT AND THE LABELING OF CONVICTED FELONS. Criminology (Beverly Hills), 43(3), 589–622. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0011-1348.2005.00018.x

CHIRICOS, T., BARRICK, K., BALES, W., & BONTRAGER, S. (2007). THE LABELING OF CONVICTED FELONS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR RECIDIVISM. Criminology (Beverly Hills), 45(3), 547–581. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2007.00089.x

Dawson-Edwards, C. (2008). Enfranchising Convicted Felons: Current Research on Opinions Towards Felon Voting Rights. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, 46(3–4), 13–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509670802143201

Manza, J., Brooks, C., & Uggen, C. (2004). Public Attitudes Toward Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States. Public Opinion Quarterly, 68(2), 275–286. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfh015

Moak, S. C., Walker, J. T., Earwood, M., & Towery, G. (2020). Using reentry simulations to promote changes in attitude toward offenders: Experiential learning to promote successful reentry. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 45(1), 126–144. https://doi-org.proxy.libraries.smu.edu/10.1007/s12103-019-09500-9

Myers, M. A. (1980). Personal and Situational Contingencies in the Processing of Convicted Felons. Sociological Inquiry, 50(1), 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.1980.tb00832.x

Wilson, D. C., Owens, M. L., & Davis, D. W. (2015). HOW RACIAL ATTITUDES AND IDEOLOGY AFFECT POLITICAL RIGHTS FOR FELONS. Du Bois Review, 12(1), 73–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X14000332