African Americans’ Principled Opposition to Prison Privatization

This research analyzes African American opposition toward privatized prisons. It uses data from a national survey of African Americans to show that concerns about safety and corruption correlate with opposition to private prison facilities. Perceptions of discrimination within the justice system also correlate with opposition toward privatization, but only among African Americans who perceive a sense of common fate with other African Americans. A survey experiment also shows that a sense of common fate among African Americans moderates the effect of racial disparities in private prisons on policy opposition. Overall, it appears that African Americans understand the potential costs of the growing private prison industry.