Yurij RudenskyDec 7, 2022
Kevin Morris
Our paper on the effects of traffic stops on political participation is now live at #APSR @politicalscience! Even better, it's open access. A quick thread on our big findings... https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/ticketing-and-turnout-the-participatory-consequences-of-lowlevel-police-contact/184A410DFF3DC72F4B9667C8CA3E0730
Ticketing and Turnout: The Participatory Consequences of Low-Level Police Contact | American Political Science Review | Cambridge Core

Ticketing and Turnout: The Participatory Consequences of Low-Level Police Contact - Volume 117 Issue 3

Cambridge Core
Dec 2, 2022 at 1:14pmtooot
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
We know that high-level contact with the criminal legal system (CLS) probably demobilizes voters--from the "hidden curriculum" the CLS teaches about citizenship, to "legal estrangement"--people who've been locked up or faced major life disruptions from the CLS (understandably) aren't too keen on the government
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
But what about lower-level contact? Gerber et. al (2017) have an interesting aside in their discussion: incarceration “is an outcome that often follows a long series of interactions with the criminal justice system.” So how might earlier interactions shape participation?
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
On the one hand, we argue that a traffic stop is less disruptive than incarceration, so it might have smaller effects (and also see @leahchristiani's recent work with Kelsey at JREP in this vein). On the other hand, it might "teach" folks more, since it likely comes earlier in the socialization process
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
To answer the question, we turn to Hillsborough County where (problematically from a social perspective) the name and date of birth of everyone stopped by the police is published online. We match to the voter file, and the compare voters stopped before the election to voters stopped after an election:
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
But we also wanted to know how these effects differed for Black and non-Black voters. In particular, we were curious whether there was different temporal variation. On the one hand, Black voters already know A LOT about the CLS, so there's maybe less potential learning. On the other hand, they can be more traumatic and deadly for Black motorists. It turns out that stops are *more* demobilizing for Black voters in the short-run, and *less* in the long run
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
So what's the takeaway here? We (rightly) spend a lot of time talking about how disruptive high-level CLS contact is. But WAY MORE PEOPLE get stopped by the police than go to prison each year. The fact that these quotidian interactions shape participation this much is a big deal
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
As always: grateful for the support from @BrennanCenter for this work, for the peer reviewers who made it stronger, and for Columbia's support of #OpenAccess @politicalscience research!
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
(Also, I should add: two soc grad students publishing in APSR should--hopefully--point to how silly our fights over disciplinary boundaries are)
Show threadClaudia LandwehrDec 2, 2022
@KevinTMorris @politicalscience
These are fascinating (but in many respects, also depressing) results!
Show threadKevin MorrisDec 2, 2022
@landwehr_c *sigh* I feel like fascinating-but-depressing is the name of the game when it comes to research on the criminal legal system and voting rights. But thanks!