Books by Michael Leo Owens
Op-Eds by Michael Leo Owens
The Conversation (reprinted by a variety of media outlets)
The Guardian (U.K.), Aug 19, 2013
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Aug 14, 2013
Atlanta Magazine, Jul 1, 2013
Each year, American prisons release approximately 700,000 men and women who face many challenges ... more Each year, American prisons release approximately 700,000 men and women who face many challenges as they reengage the routines of family, community, and work. But some of those released should never have been behind bars in the first place -because courts have determined that they were wrongfully convicted for crimes they did not commit.
PBS: Need to Know, Jan 18, 2013
Religion Dispatches, Nov 18, 2012
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feb 16, 2011
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Aug 24, 2010
The New York Times, Feb 26, 2002
Journal Articles by Michael Leo Owens
Journal of Urban Affairs
This article explores whether citizens of city-regions hold a particular attitude about collectiv... more This article explores whether citizens of city-regions hold a particular attitude about collective action. We model individual support for the new regionalist idea that communities sharing the same city-region (i.e., metropolitan area) should share resources across them to solve regional problems. Using data from a random sample survey of adults living in fifteen metropolitan areas in the state of Georgia in the United States, we use Bayesian inference techniques to determine the effects of a set of individual and contextual factors on the attitude. Conventional political cleavages of race, gender, and place of residence produce the strongest effects. We offer a set of theoretical, methodological, and practical implications for future research on political orientations of citizens in city-regions.
This research examines the extent to which negative attitudes toward African Americans influence ... more This research examines the extent to which negative attitudes toward African Americans influence public reactions to restoring political rights to felons. We argue that race-neutral policies, such as felon disenfranchisement laws, are non-separable from racial considerations, as images of criminals and felons are typically associated with Blacks. Such attitudes produce collateral consequences for felons, hampering the restoration of their full political rights and, ultimately, their citizenship. Predispositions, such as racial attitudes and political ideology resentment, provide both racial and non-racial justifications for supporting these laws, yet, there are no empirical accounts of their relational effects on opinion toward felons’ rights. Using nationally representative survey data, we find that racialized resentment and ideology exert the most influence on the reactions to policies seeking political rights for felons as well as beliefs about the value of doing so. Consistent with much of the literature on attitudes toward ameliorative racial policies, while higher levels of racial resentment strongly predict lower support for felons’ political rights among both conservatives and liberals, yet, racial resentment is most influential among liberals. Conservatives exhibit the highest levels of racial resentment, but its impact is depressed more by agreement on both racial attitudes and opposition to political rights of felons.
Journal of Urban Affairs, Oct 2014
Atlanta is perhaps the city with the greatest degree of black political empowerment (BPE) in the ... more Atlanta is perhaps the city with the greatest degree of black political empowerment (BPE) in the United States. Yet in 2009 a relatively weak white mayoral candidate nearly won the general and runoff elections over a field of stronger black candidates. Why? Treating Atlanta as a prototypical case, the article examines factors that undermine the capacity of blacks to retain control of mayoralties in strong BPE cities, with an emphasis on disruptions to black electorates, discontent among black citizens, and reinvestment in electoral politics by whites at the local level.
Journal of Political Science 41 (2014): 65-93 , Sep 2014
Previous research on the Black church's role in politics has highlighted the importance of "polit... more Previous research on the Black church's role in politics has highlighted the importance of "political churches" -- churches with a significant political culture of communication and mobilization. We do not dispute the importance of political churches, but inquire whether their benefits are equally shared. In fact, given the semi-voluntary nature of the Black church, we should expect variance in what members take from the congregation. Using data gathered from a survey of members of one such political church, we look for variation in the ownership of significant political resources and in the degree to which congregants view their pastor and interest groups in the community as representatives. We find significant variation driven by political disagreement and the perceived efficacy of the pastor. What emerges is a sense of the diversity of the church experience within even highly political churches that challenges previous work.
This commentary argues that community organizing
among citizens with felony convictions may, com... more This commentary argues that community organizing
among citizens with felony convictions may, combined
with other factors, reduce the civic degradation of custodial
populations in the future. It summarizes a critical
case of the restoration of voting rights for probationers
and parolees in Rhode Island via a state referendum to
identify implications for engaging and sustaining felons
in political activity.
Albany Law Review, 2012
The article offers information on the compensation legislation regarding the unjustified convicti... more The article offers information on the compensation legislation regarding the unjustified convictions in the U.S. It reports that studies related to legal scholarship on compensation provides information on the wrongly convicted notable cases of miscarriages of justice. It discusses the politics required to repair and compensate unjustified conviction.
American Politics Research, 2012
Punitive policy designs diminish felons as citizens. Scholars know much about the designs’ influe... more Punitive policy designs diminish felons as citizens. Scholars know much about the designs’ influence on felons’ political and civil rights. They know little of how policy influences felons’ social rights. Examining the discretion of states to retain or reform federal bans on drug felons receiving cash and food assistance between 1997 and 2004, we explain the choices states make about extending social rights to “deviants.” We draw from theories of neoinstitutional organization, group threat, and political incorporation. Multivariate analysis suggest that the severity of states’ penal regimes and the degree to which felons and poor people threaten social order have the greatest influence on states’ responses to the federal sanctions on drug felons. Our study informs understandings of why some states take a “punitive turn” while other states may counter convention, exercising discretion to reduce rather than increase their punitiveness toward felons specifically and lawbreaking generally.
Incorporating race into tactical spending for electoral gain, this article revisits the relative ... more Incorporating race into tactical spending for electoral gain, this article revisits the relative effects of vote production and vote retention on distributive politics. It investigates whether a “compassion strategy” to influence the electoral behavior of voters while being responsive to need-based social welfare demands affected federal discretionary grants to faith-based organizations (FBOs) during the administration of George W. Bush. The findings suggest that federal domestic social welfare funding of FBOs may have involved a combination of the tactical use of grants for both electoral purposes (i.e., vote production and vote retention) and the reduction of need among the states.
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Books by Michael Leo Owens
Op-Eds by Michael Leo Owens
Journal Articles by Michael Leo Owens
among citizens with felony convictions may, combined
with other factors, reduce the civic degradation of custodial
populations in the future. It summarizes a critical
case of the restoration of voting rights for probationers
and parolees in Rhode Island via a state referendum to
identify implications for engaging and sustaining felons
in political activity.
among citizens with felony convictions may, combined
with other factors, reduce the civic degradation of custodial
populations in the future. It summarizes a critical
case of the restoration of voting rights for probationers
and parolees in Rhode Island via a state referendum to
identify implications for engaging and sustaining felons
in political activity.
compensation, this chapter presents evidence of a curious relationship—the correlation between the number of DNA exonerations in state courts and the quality of statutory compensation offered by state governments, which has consequences for how we think about what states do
and why they do it when it comes to meeting societal obligations to the exonerated. Beyond providing an empirical example of how the quantity of wrongful convictions may influence the
quality of compensation designs, we use the relationship to consider and rank a small set of plausible explanations. Our exercise leads us to claim that movement to better remedy wrongful convictions requires that more states acknowledge and expand their social obligations to the exonerated. It is a civic imperative. We advocate, however, for a newer, better method of
compensating for wrongful convictions, one that would parallel the worker’s compensation system. We conclude with ideas for deepening research into societal obligations to the
wrongfully convicted.
Saint Vincent College
Latrobe, PA
February 25, 2009