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 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?

Introduction: Detaining Democracy? Criminal Justice and American Civic Life - Vesla M. Weaver, Jacob S. Hacker, and Christopher Wildeman
How the Criminal Justice System Shapes Social Inequality and the Capacity of Citizens
The Degree of Disadvantage: Incarceration and Inequality in Education - Stephanie Ewert, Bryan L. Sykes, and Becky Pettit
Consequences of Family Member Incarceration: Impacts on Civic Participation and Perceptions of the Legitimacy and Fairness of Government - Hedwig Lee, Lauren C. Porter, and Megan Comfort
Parental Incarceration, Child Homelessness, and the Invisible Consequences of Mass Imprisonment - Christopher Wildeman
Incarceration and Social Inequality: Challenges and Directions for Future Research - Kristin Turney
How the Criminal Justice System Shapes Learning and Perceptions
The Criminal Justice System and the Racialization of Perceptions - Aliya Saperstein, Andrew Penner, and Jessica M. Kizer
The Psychological Dimension and the Social Consequences of Incarceration - Jason Schnittker
Mass Imprisonment and Trust in the Law - Christopher Muller and Daniel Schrage
How the Criminal Justice System Educates Citizens - Benjamin Justice and Tracey L. Meares
Detention, Democracy, and Inequality in a Divided Society - Glenn C. Loury
How the Criminal Justice System Shapes Political Outcomes and Behaviors
Effects of Imprisonment and Community Supervision on Neighborhood Political Participation in North Carolina - Traci R. Burch
Staying Out of Sight? Concentrated Policing and Local Political Action - Amy E. Lerman and Vesla M. Weaver
Do Voting Rights Notification Laws Increase Ex-Felon Turnout? - Marc Meredith and Michael Morse
Classes, Races, and Marginalized Places: Notes on the Study of Democracy's Demise - Joe Soss
What Might the Future Hold
Ex-Felons' Organization-Based Political Work for Carceral Reforms - Michael Leo Owens
Locked In? Conservative Reform and the Future of Mass Incarceration - David Dagan and Steven M. Teles
Civic Lessons: Why Certain Schemes to End Mass Incarceration Will Fail - Eric Cadora
Closing Comments on Criminal Justice and American Civic Life
Democracy and the Carceral State in America - Marie Gottschalk
Criminal Justice Processing and the Social Matrix of Adversity - Robert J. Sampson
Incarceration, Inequality, and Imagining Alternatives - Bruce Western