“Traci Burch has tackled a public issue that threatens the very basis of democracy—the tendency of criminal convictions to taint the democratic involvement of those left behind—and done so in rigorous and creative ways. Trading Democracy for Justice is a splendid work of social science that will be widely read and cited and whose astonishing findings will expand our attention to the ways incarceration affects people beyond those convicted of crimes.”

Katherine Cramer-Walsh, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“Trading Democracy for Justice is social science at its best and is sure to be an instant classic. Traci Burch is one of a handful of political scientists working to shed new light on one of the most important problems of our time: the political demobilization that occurs in poor minority neighborhoods as a result of the unprecedented incarceration of young black men. The book is an outstanding achievement.”

Mark Peffley, University of Kentucky, author of Justice in America

“The present correctional population reflects over four decades of the incredible growth of the criminal justice system, and an emerging body of research has established incarceration as a power engine of social inequality. Burch provides a strong contribution and extension to this line of research by examining the myriad and diverse ways that the criminal justice system affects neighborhood political participation. . . . Trading Democracy for Justice would be a great text for graduate seminars in sociology, criminology, and political science. Researchers studying stratification, incarceration and inequality, and political participation would all find this book to be quite useful.”

American Journal of Sociology

“Trading Democracy for Justice is a timely book that draws attention to the concentrated nature of punishment, describes salient consequences for neighborhood political mobilization, and helps to outline a future research program on this important topic.”

Contemporary Sociology