Athens, Ohio--Cherita King doesn't just listen in class, she takes action.  In a criminology class taught by Michelle Brown, assistant professor in sociology and anthropology, King was surprised to learn that many convicted felons can lose their voting rights while incarcerated in some states.

King is a sophomore psychology major and a King, Parks, Chavez scholarship recipient who plans to add a second major in sociology and criminology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Her current readings include experiences of sociologists and criminologists who have served prison time.  The majority of these were fortunate enough to have educational opportunities while in prison and were able to overcome social stigmas and barriers to become professionals in their fields.  Other ex-prisoners, however, have neither the educational opportunity or social support to turn their lives around.

King wants to know how prisoners feel about disenfranchisement, a disproportionate number of whom are minorities.  How offenders are affected by the prison experience and how disenfranchisement of inmates and ex-convicts impacts our democracy are questions King hopes to answer.

The previous presidential elections in Florida provide examples of other kinds of disenfranchisement.  Closed polling sites, blocked streets on voting days, and redistricting that favors the majority also concern King.  She wants to investigate what the long-term effects these forms of disenfranchisement have on our democracy.

"The criminal justice system is a huge balancing act," she says.  "My goal is to examine a piece of it and make that piece better."

Individuals convicted of a felony in Ohio may lose their voting rights while in prison but they can get them back once their time is served.  However, in Florida and Texas, those convicted of certain felonies lose voting rights permanently while residing in those states. There are daunting processes in many other states to get voting rights reinstated.  Intimidating forms to fill out, meetings with various officials and boards and other such hurdles are common.

King is awaiting permission to survey prisoners in three facilities in Ohio and three in Florida.  She is working with the Ohio University Internal Review Board to construct a survey that will elicit the information she needs without putting her or the prisoners at risk.  She will send the surveys to the consenting institutions and they will distribute them to prisoners to complete.  Her sample will be all male.

Brown, King's advisor, says that should this project be successful, it will be the first of its kind. "In my opinion,"states Brown, "this project and its possibilities mark Cherita as the kind of student that professors dream of finding.  She is self-motivated, actively engaged with her studies, and well on her way to being a first-rate researcher.  And she is doing all of this outside of class on her own time independently."  Consequently, King's work is social science at its finest: research driven by real concerns for social change.

The Student Achievement in Research and Scholarship (STARS) program assists minorities with applications to graduate schools and waives entry fees.  Because King is a King, Parks, Chavez scholar, representatives from the Student Achievement in Research and Scholarship program got in touch with her to provide mentoring, to follow her research and, once King's project is completed, to assist her in presenting her findings at the annual STARS conference.  They are keeping an eye on this young researcher and she, in turn, knows where she wants to go. 

Brown says that this project also "speaks to the importance of programs like STARS" and she hopes we can do more locally with the program to bring students and sponsors together in the promotion of scholarship in real research settings.