Editor’s Observe:
On the cusp of essentially the most consequential election cycle of our time, public scholarship may help present nuance, context, and readability to a spread of urgent points. By
Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean
-Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, Collection Editor
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Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is the Rob Rosenthal Distinguished Professor of Civic Engagement and Govt Director of the Allbritton Middle for the Research of Public Life at Wesleyan College. A scholar of voting rights, punishment, and civic engagement, she is creator of the e-book “Identification Politics within the United States” and hosts the Gracie Award-winning radio present and podcast, “DISRUPTED.”
Reframing the File: Why Democrats Ought to Rethink the “Prosecutor vs. Felon” Faming within the 2024 Presidential Marketing campaign
By Philippe E. C. Andal
As a community-based researcher and organizer invested in felony justice reform, I am deeply involved in regards to the narratives which have emerged across the main candidates. With the nomination of a former prosecutor and an individual with a felony document, marketing campaign messaging has settled into the acquainted, but damaging, binary of “prosecutor vs. felon.” Whereas this will appear to be an advantageous angle, it finally undermines the potential for constructing an inclusive multi-racial democracy. 
Dr. Philippe E. C. Andal
In my work advocating for the expungement of felony information, I’ve witnessed firsthand the social, psychological, and financial influence of being branded a felon. As a result of our present felony justice system values retribution over rehabilitation, those that possess felony information undergo a bunch of collateral penalties even upon launch from incarceration. This expertise of second-class citizenship typically comes with dehumanizing identities, like “felon” or “convict,” that will increase the chance of recidivism and feeds cycles of generational poverty and neighborhood trauma. Avenues for authorized aid from felony information, like expungements, supply folks the profound alternative to take away the dehumanizing labels and rewrite the document of their lives to maneuver towards totally claiming the guarantees of American democracy, “liberty and justice for all.”
Because the influence of this election will endure long gone November, it’s critically essential to scrutinize the narratives we use throughout this marketing campaign. Somewhat than using language that perpetuates damaging stereotypes about individuals with information, the get together ought to reframe their messaging to instantly tackle the limitations for a extra equitable nation.
Reframing Voter Engagement
As of this writing, neither candidate is past the margin of error to declare a snug lead in polling, which implies each campaigns must advance stronger messaging with election day lower than 40 days away. As an alternative of doubling down on the “prosecutor vs. felon” narrative, Democrats ought to make the most of this second to rewrite its messaging past these portrayed flat identities. Whereas emphasizing {qualifications} (and disqualifications) for public workplace are authentic and needed goals, how they’re communicated matter. Even the felony justice chapter of the Related Press Stylebook was up to date in Could discouraging journalists from utilizing phrases like “prisoner,” “inmate,” “convict,” and “felon,” to as a substitute use person-first language, noting the problematic and racialized connotations of these phrases and their dehumanizing results. Ought to Democrats proceed to make use of their “prosecutor vs. felon” language, they threat alienating undecided and impartial voters, in addition to the one-third of the American inhabitants who has some type a felony document.
Reframing Accountability
Sarcastically, regardless of being a resident of Florida, a state infamous for its strict disenfranchisement insurance policies, former President Trump with a felony conviction stays eligible to vote on this election, regardless of common quips from Democratic rallies suggesting in any other case. The truth is former President Trump has not suffered the long-documented penalties and limitations of these with felony information, such as employment eligibility and entry to housing. Because the nation continues to reckon with the sophisticated and complicated system of mass incarceration, the “prosecutor vs. felon” framing belittles the disparities that a long time of tough-on-crime insurance policies have yielded. It additionally undermines the potential for correcting historic and current injustices, particularly these disproportionately felt by communities of coloration. As an alternative of relying on the established order of felony identification, Democrats ought to seize this second to deal with the stark variations of justice skilled by former President Trump and the 77 million Individuals with a felony document.
Reframing Alternative
In the course of the Democratic Nationwide Conference, Vice President Harris dedicated to creating what she known as an “alternative financial system” to convey collectively folks and companies from all sectors of the American financial system to create jobs. Undergirding her imaginative and prescient is the proposition that honest and dwelling wages for the bottom of employees doesn’t should be sacrificed for a thriving financial system. This identical form of “each/and” pondering ought to inform all features of the marketing campaign’s coverage proposals and messaging. Somewhat than counting on an “us vs. them” trope that not solely entrenches partisanship however continues to color all folks with information in a single broad stroke, the get together may higher leverage this second to spotlight how the privileges of race and class make the previous president proof against the limitations to financial housing, schooling, security, financial mobility, and even voting confronted by common Individuals.
Whereas Vice President Harris’ prosecutorial document and former President Trump’s felony document have energized each of their bases, neither marketing campaign has gained a decisive lead by way of this messaging. Democrats would do effectively to acknowledge this drawback and transfer away from this framing on grounds of each efficacy and ethics. Simply as one mistake ought to not outline an individual for all times, former President Trump’s felony document mustn’t outline the phrases of political discourse in an election affecting thousands and thousands. By rejecting the identical tropes which have induced thousands and thousands to desert hope within the American dream, Democrats can as a substitute rewrite the document to embrace a imaginative and prescient of alternative addressing points akin to earnings inequality, healthcare entry, local weather change, and even felony justice reform. This shift will higher place the get together to resonate with a broader and extra numerous voters, particularly Black males and males of coloration, who’ve disproportionately been affected by legislation enforcement and the felony justice system.
This isn’t about diminishing the intense nature of the felony acts dedicated by the former president or undermining the primary nomination of a professional lady of coloration by a significant get together. Somewhat, reframing the document helps elevate the folks by whom and for whom the workplace of the President exists. By reifying the “prosecutor” and “felon” binary, justice system-involved folks undergo. In flip, our democracy suffers. It’s time to reframe the document by main with a imaginative and prescient of progress, justice, and inclusivity.
Dr. Philippe E. C. Andal is a community-based researcher, organizer, and minister. He serves as Co-Chair of Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut which organizes 30,000+ folks of religion round problems with felony justice, healthcare, and schooling reform.
