Democracies generally agree that suffrage is important; however, many democracies continue to disenfranchise prisoners. Currently, 80 electoral democracies impose some restrictions on the voting rights of prisoners. Some countries impose restrictions beyond the prison sentence. This study explores the factors that impact the variation in disenfranchisement policies across 111 electoral democracies. More specifically, this study examines the impact of democracy, punishment and racial and ethnic fractionalization on the variation of prisoner disenfranchisement policies. The findings demonstrate that the participatory aspects of democracy such as third wave democratization, and democratic participation have a negative effect on the probability and degree of disenfranchisement across electoral democracies.
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