Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T18:08:12.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Summonsing Criminal Desistance: Convicted Felons' Perspectives on Jury Service

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2018

James M. Binnall
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This exploratory study is the first to examine how convicted felons view the jury process and their role in that process. Data derived from interviews with former and prospective felon-jurors in Maine, the only US jurisdiction that does not restrict a convicted felon's opportunity to serve as a juror, reveal that participants displayed an idealized view of jury service, stressing a commitment to serve conscientiously. Additionally, inclusion in the jury process affirmed their transitions from “offenders” to “nonoffenders.” In response, participants exhibited a sense of particularized self-worth, emphasizing that negative experiences with the criminal justice system make one a more effective juror. In sum, this study suggests that among convicted felons, inclusion in the jury process may prompt conformity with the “ideal juror” role, facilitate prosocial identity shifts by mitigating the “felon” label, and help former offenders to find personal value.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , Winter 2018 , pp. 4 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © American Bar Foundation, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Aresti, Andreas, Eatough, Virginia, and Brooks‐Gordon, Belinda. 2010. Doing Time After Time: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Reformed Ex‐Prisoners' Experiences of Self‐Change, Identity and Career Opportunities. Psychology Crime & Law 16:169–90.Google Scholar
Bazemore, Gordon, and Stinchcomb, Jeanne B. 2004a. Civic Engagement and Reintegration: Toward a Community‐Focused Theory and Practice. Columbia Human Rights Law Review 36:241–86.Google Scholar
Bazemore, Gordon, and Stinchcomb, Jeanne B. 2004b. A Civic‐Engagement Model of Reentry: Involving Community Through Service and Restorative Justice. Federal Probation 68 (2): 797–810.Google Scholar
Becker, Howard S. 1963. Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Binnall, James M. 2008. EG1900 … The Number They Gave Me When They Revoked My Citizenship: Perverse Consequences of Ex‐Felon Civic Exile. Willamette Law Review 44:667–97.Google Scholar
Binnall, James M. 2009. Sixteen Million Angry Men: Reviving a Dead Doctrine to Challenge the Constitutionality of Felon Jury Exclusion. Virginia Journal of Social Policy & Law 17:1–42.Google Scholar
Binnall, James M. 2010. Convicts in Court: Felonious Lawyers Make a Case for Including Convicted Felons in the Jury Pool. Albany Law Review 73:1379–1436.Google Scholar
Binnall, James M. 2014. A Field Study of the Presumptively Biased: Is There Empirical Support for Excluding Convicted Felons from Jury Service? Law & Policy 34 (1): 1–34.Google Scholar
Boatright, Robert G. 1998. Improving Citizen Response to Jury Summonses: A Report with Recommendations. Chicago, IL: American Judicature Society.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, John. 1989. Crime, Shame, and Reintegration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, John, and Mugford, Stephen. 1994. Conditions of Successful Reintegration Ceremonies: Dealing with Juvenile Offenders. British Journal of Criminology 34 (2): 139–71.Google Scholar
Braun, Virginia, and Clarke, Victoria. 2006. Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101.Google Scholar
Brown, David J. 1991. The Professional Ex‐: An Alternative for Exiting the Deviant Career. Sociological Quarterly 32:219–30.Google Scholar
Cast, Alicia D., Stets, Jan E., and Burke, Peter J. 1999. Does the Self Conform to the Views of Others? Social Psychology Quarterly 62 (1): 68–82.Google Scholar
Chiricos, Ted, Barrick, Kelle, and Bales, William. 2007. The Labeling of Convicted Felons and Its Consequences for Recidivism. Criminology 45 (3): 547–81.Google Scholar
Cooley, Charles Horton. 1902. Human Nature and the Social Order. New York: Scribners.Google Scholar
Consolini, Paula M. 1992. Learning by Doing Justice: Private Jury Service and Political Attitudes. PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, CA.Google Scholar
Cutler, Brian L., and Hughes, Donna M. 2001. Judging Jury Service: Results of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts Juror Survey. Behavioral Sciences & the Law 19:305–20.Google Scholar
Esterberg, Kristin G. 2002. Qualitative Methods in Social Research. Boston, MA: McGraw‐Hill.Google Scholar
Farrall, Stephen. 2002. Rethinking What Works with Offenders: Probation, Social Context and Desistance from Crime. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gastil, John, Deess, E. Pierre, and Weiser, Phil J. 2002. Civic Awakening in the Jury Room: A Test of the Connection Between Jury Deliberation and Political Participation. Journal of Politics 64:585–95.Google Scholar
Gastil, John, Deess, E. Pierre, Weiser, Phil J., and Meade, Jordan. 2008. Jury Service and Electoral Participation: A Test of the Participation Hypothesis. Journal of Politics 70:351–67.Google Scholar
Gastil, John, Pierre Deess, E., Weiser, Phil J., and Simmons, Cindy. 2010. The Jury and Democracy: How Jury Deliberation Promotes Civic Engagement and Political Participation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gastil, John, Fukurai, Hiroshi, Anderson, Kent, and Nolan, Mark. 2012. Seeing Is Believing: The Impact of Jury Service on Attitudes Towards Legal Institutions and the Implications for International Jury Reform. Court Review 48:124–30.Google Scholar
Gastil, John, and Weiser, Phil J. 2006. Jury Service as an Invitation to Citizenship: Assessing the Civic Value of Institutionalized Deliberation. Policy Studies Journal 34:605–27.Google Scholar
Gecas, Viktor, and Schwalbe, Michael L. 1983. Beyond the Looking‐Glass Self: Social Structure and Efficacy‐Based Self‐Esteem. Social Psychology Quarterly 46 (2): 77–88.Google Scholar
Giordano, Peggy C., Cernkovich, Stephen A., and Rudolph, Jennifer L. 2002. Gender, Crime and Desistance: Toward a Theory of Cognitive Transformation. American Journal of Sociology 107 (4): 960–1164.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice‐Hall.Google Scholar
Hannaford‐Agor, Paula L., and Thomas Munsterman, G. 2006. Ethical Reciprocity: The Obligations of Citizens and Courts to Promote Participation in Jury Service. In Jury Ethics: Juror Conduct and Jury Dynamics, ed. Kleinig, J. and Levine, J. P., 21–34. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.Google Scholar
Harding, D. 2003. Jean Valjean's Dilemma: The Management of Ex‐Convict Identity in the Search for Employment. Deviant Behavior 24:571–96.Google Scholar
Irwin, John. 1970. The Felon. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Kalt, Brian C. 2003. The Exclusion of Felons from Jury Service. American University Law Review 53:65–189.Google Scholar
Kinch, John W. 1963. A Formalized Theory of Self‐Concept. American Journal of Sociology 68 (4): 481–86.Google Scholar
King, Sam. 2013a. Early Desistance Narratives: A Qualitative Analysis of Probationers' Transitions Towards Desistance. Punishment and Society 15 (2): 147–65.Google Scholar
King, Sam. 2013b. Transformative Agency and Desistance from Crime. Criminology and Criminal Justice 13 (3): 317–35.Google Scholar
Laub, John H., and Sampson, Robert J. 1993. Turning Points in the Life Course: Why Change Matters to the Study of Crime. Criminology 31 (3): 301–25.Google Scholar
Laub, John H., and Sampson, Robert J. 2003. Shared Beginnings, Divergent Lives: Delinquent Boys to Age 70. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
LeBel, Thomas P. 2012. Invisible Stripes? Formerly Incarcerated Persons' Perceptions of Stigma. Deviant Behavior 33 (2): 89–107.Google Scholar
Lee, Rebecca K. 2013. Judging Judges: Empathy as a Litmus Test for Impartiality. Cincinnati Law Review 82:145–206.Google Scholar
Lemert, Edwin M. 1951. Social Pathology: Systematic Approaches to the Study of Sociopathic Behavior. New York: McGraw‐Hill.Google Scholar
Lofland, John. 1969. Deviance and Identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Love, Margaret Colgate. 2007. Relief from the Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction. The Sentencing Project. http://www.sentencingproject.org/detail/publication.cfm?publication_id=115 (accessed July 15, 2014).Google Scholar
Maine Statistical Analysis Center. 2013. University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service, Drug Offense Trends and Drug Offender Recidivism in Maine, Characteristics of Maine Probationer Sample, 2004–2011. http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/justiceresearch (accessed July 15, 2014).Google Scholar
Major, Brenda, and O'Brien, Laurie T. 2005. The Social Psychology of Stigma. Annual Review of Psychology 56:393–421.Google Scholar
Manza, Jeff, and Uggen, Christopher. 2006. Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Manza, Jeff, Uggen, Christopher, and Behrens, Angela. 2006. Disenfranchisement and Civic Reintegration: Felons Speak Out. In Locked Out: Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy, ed. Manza, Jeff and Uggen, Christopher, 137–63 New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Maruna, Shadd. 2001. Making Good: How Ex‐Convicts Reform and Rebuild Their Lives. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Maruna, Shadd. 2011. Reentry as a Rite of Passage. Punishment and Society 13 (1): 3–28.Google Scholar
Maruna, Shadd, and Copes, Heath. 2005. What Have We Learned from Five Decades of Neutralization Research? Crime and Justice 32:221–320.Google Scholar
Maruna, Shadd, and LeBel, Thomas P. 2003. Welcome Home: Examining the “Reentry Court” Concept from a Strengths‐Based Perspective. Western Criminology Review 4 (2): 91–107.Google Scholar
Maruna, Shadd, LeBel, Thomas P., Mitchell, Nick, and Naples, Michelle. 2004. Pygmalion in the Reintegration Process: Desistance from Crime Through the Looking Glass. Psychology, Crime, and Law 10 (3): 271–81.Google Scholar
Matsueda, Ross L. 1992. Reflected Appraisals, Parental Labeling, and Delinquency: Specifying a Symbolic Interactionist Theory. American Journal of Sociology 97:1577–1611.Google Scholar
Matsueda, Ross L., and Heimer, Karen. 1997. A Symbolic Interactionist Theory of Role Transitions, Role Commitments and Delinquency. In Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency, ed. Thornberry, T., 163–213. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Mauer, Marc, and Chesney‐Lind, Meda. 2003. Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Mead, George H. 1934. Mind, Self and Society: From the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Meisenhelder, Thomas. 1977. An Exploratory Study of Exiting from Criminal Careers. Criminology 15 (3): 319–34.Google Scholar
Meisenhelder, Thomas. 1982. Becoming Normal: Certification as a Stage in Exiting from Crime. Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal 3 (2): 137–53.Google Scholar
Miller, Bryan Lee, and Spillane, Joseph F. 2012. Civil Death: An Examination of Ex‐Felon Disenfranchisement and Reintegration. Punishment and Society 14 (4): 402–28.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Patricia. 2001. Making it in the Free World: Women in Transition from Prison. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Pager, Devah. 2007. Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Pager, Devah, and Quillian, Lincoln. 2005. Walking the Talk: What Employers Say Versus What They Do. American Sociological Review 70 (3): 355–80.Google Scholar
Paternoster, Raymond, and Bushway, Shawn. 2009. Desistance and the “Feared Self”: Toward an Identity Theory of Criminal Desistance. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 99 (4): 1103–56.Google Scholar
Paternoster, Raymond, and Iovanni, LeeAnn. 1989. The Labeling Perspective and Delinquency: An Elaboration of the Theory and an Assessment of the Evidence. Justice Quarterly 6 (3): 359–94.Google Scholar
Petersilia, Joan. 2003. When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pettus, Katherine I. 2013. Felon Disenfranchisement in America, Second Edition: Historical Origins, Institutional Racism, and Modern Consequences. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Rackley, Erika. 2005. When Hercules Met the Happy Prince: Re‐Imagining the Judge. Texas Wesleyan Law Review 12: 213–32.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, David M. 1996. Rethinking Subjectivity: Narrative Identity and the Self. Philosophy and Social Criticism 21 (5/6): 159–72.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., and Laub, John H. 1993. Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points Through Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., and Laub, John H. 1997. A Life‐Course Theory of Cumulative Disadvantage and the Stability of Delinquency. In Developmental Theories of Crime and Delinquency, ed. Thornberry, T. P., 133–63. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Sampson, Robert J., and Laub, John H. 2005. A Life‐Course View of the Development of Crime. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 602 (1): 12–45.Google Scholar
Segal, Paula Z. 2010. A More Inclusive Democracy: Challenging Felon Jury Exclusion in New York. New York City Law Review 13:313–85.Google Scholar
Shover, Neal. 1996. Great Pretenders: Pursuits and Careers of Persistent Thieves. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Harry Stack. 1947. Conceptions of Modern Psychiatry. Washington, DC: W. H. White Psychiatric Foundation.Google Scholar
Sykes, Gresham M., and Matza, David. 1957. Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Deviance. American Sociological Review 22 (6): 664–70.Google Scholar
Tajfel, Henri, and Turner, John C. 1986. The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Relations. In Psychology of Intergroup Relations, ed. Worchel, S. and Austin, W. G., 7–24. Chicago, IL: Nelson.Google Scholar
Tocqueville, Alexis de. 1835. Democracy in America. In Democracy in America, ed. Bradley, P., 17–434. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Travis, Jeremy. 2005. But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
Trice, Harrison M., and Roman, Paul Michael. 1970. Delabeling, Relabeling, and Alcoholics Anonymous. Social Problems 17 (4): 538–46.Google Scholar
Uggen, Christopher, and Manza, Jeff. 2005. Disenfranchisement and the Civic Reintegration of Convicted Felons. In Civil Penalties Social Consequences, ed. Mele, Christopher and Miller, Teresa A., 67–84. New York: Routledge Google Scholar
Uggen, Christopher, Manza, Jeff, and Behrens, Angela. 2004. “Less than the Average Citizen”: Stigma, Role Transition, and the Civic Reintegration of Convicted Felons. In After Crime and Punishment: Pathways to Offender Reintegration, ed. Maruna, Shaad and Immarigeon, Russ, 261–93. Portland, OR: Willan.Google Scholar
Uggen, Christopher, Manza, Jeff, and Thompson, Melissa. 2006. Citizenship, Democracy, and the Civic Reintegration of Criminal Offenders. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 605:281–310.Google Scholar
Vaughan, Barry. 2007. The Internal Narrative of Desistance. British Journal of Criminology 47:390–404.Google Scholar
Vidmar, Neil. 1997. Generic Prejudice and the Presumption of Guilt in Sex Abuse Trials. Law and Human Behavior 21 (1): 5–25.Google Scholar
Weaver, Beth. 2012. The Relational Context of Desistance: Some Implications and Opportunities for Social Policy. Social Policy and Administration 46 (4): 395–412.Google Scholar
Weaver, Vesla M., and Lerman, Amy E. 2010. Political Consequences of the Carceral State. American Political Science Review 104 (4): 817–33.Google Scholar
West, Robin. 1997. Caring for Justice. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
West, Robin. 2012. The Anti‐Empathic Turn. In Passions and Emotions, ed. Fleming, James E., 243–88. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Wexler, David B. 2001. Robes and Rehabilitation: How Judges Can Help Offenders “Make Good.” Court Review: The Journal of American Judges 38 (1): 18–23.Google Scholar
Wheelock, Darren. 2011. A Jury of One's “Peers”: Felon Jury Exclusion and Racial Inequality in Georgia Courts. Justice System Journal 32 (3): 335–59.Google Scholar
People v. Miller, 759 NW2d 850 (2008).Google Scholar
Rector v. State, 280 Ark. 385 (1983).Google Scholar
Rubio v. Superior Court, 593 P2d 595 (1979).Google Scholar
United States v. Barry, 71 F3d 1269 (7th Cir. 1995).Google Scholar
Maine Revised Statutes Annotated Title 14, § 1211.Google Scholar
People v. Miller, 759 NW2d 850 (2008).Google Scholar
Rector v. State, 280 Ark. 385 (1983).Google Scholar
Rubio v. Superior Court, 593 P2d 595 (1979).Google Scholar
United States v. Barry, 71 F3d 1269 (7th Cir. 1995).Google Scholar
Maine Revised Statutes Annotated Title 14, § 1211.Google Scholar