Original
Vetting for Virtue: Democracy’s Challenge in Excluding Criminals from Office
Abstract
How effective are democratic systems in preventing individuals with criminal backgrounds from holding political office? We investigate this question for the case of Norway, which has no legal restrictions against felons running for office. We analyze local election candidates from 2003 to 2019, paired with administrative records of criminal offenses. We demonstrate that individuals with criminal records are systematically penalized at every stage of their political careers. Candidates are less likely to have criminal records than the general population, with elected officials less likely to have criminal backgrounds than their unelected peers, and mayors being the most lawful. In Norway’s flexible-list PR system—where parties rank candidates and voters can cast personal votes for preferred candidates—our evidence shows that party gatekeeping accounts for most filtering, while personal votes contribute little at the margin.
中文
为美德而审查：民主在排除罪犯担任公职方面的挑战
摘要
民主制度在阻止有犯罪背景的个人担任政治公职方面有多有效？我们以挪威为案例研究这一问题，挪威没有法律限制禁止重罪犯竞选公职。我们分析了2003年至2019年的地方选举候选人，并将其与刑事犯罪行政记录相匹配。我们表明，有犯罪记录的个人在其政治生涯的每个阶段都会受到系统性惩罚。候选人拥有犯罪记录的可能性低于一般人群，当选官员拥有犯罪背景的可能性低于其未当选的同侪，而市长的守法程度最高。在挪威的灵活名单比例代表制中——政党对候选人进行排序，选民可以为自己偏好的候选人投个人票——我们的证据显示，政党把关解释了大部分筛选，而个人票在边际上贡献甚微。
关键词
候选人筛选、政治选拔、犯罪记录、政党把关、挪威、比例代表制、选举制度、民主问责