Former Felons Deserve to Vote
Felons can permanently lose their right to vote in ten different states and have their voting rights restricted in thirty-eight of them, this means that in forty-eight states there are people who are not able to express their opinion, they have had their voice taken from them. Many people who were once convicted of a felony want to change their life around, they want to be a normal civilian to the United States, not someone seen as a juvenile or a law breaker. Being able to vote is a right and part of being a U.S. citizen, these people have had part of their citizenship taken from them, some won’t ever have that piece of citizenship for the rest of their life because of human disenfranchisement, a law passed in 1789. This law stated that all felons, blacks, and women were not allowed to vote. Since the passing of this law blacks and women were given their rights to vote however felons never were.
Stripping people of their
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People aren’t ready to forgive felons for what they have done in the past and believe they shouldn’t be given their rights back. If there exists a way for a former felon to regain their rights in some states they should at least allow clemency in every state that disenfranchises felons. If clemency exists than someone out there sees that some felons deserve to regain their rights and if they don’t deserve it they would probably end up in jail again, so former felons should be given their rights back after some sort of process to check whether they are actually ready to regain their rights. This process should be mandatory after serving your jail time so that you can easily regain your rights without having to go through the rough process of
If a ex-prisoner paid his time in jail, why should they still be punished? Most of these ex-prisoners want to live a better live and prove to others that they have learned from their mistakes. So why aren’t we letting them prove it to us? An idea that seems pretty meaningful to me is that black ex-convicts are the ones who struggle the most.
But they fail to realize that the system we have now throws anyone in jail no matter if the person committed the crime or not. They also fail to realize that the current system sentencing isn't organized or fair because there are people out there innocent and people who don’t deserve that time that was given for petty crimes. The current system doesn’t seek for justice, they see everyone who gets arrested as a criminal and feels they should be thrown away for a very long time and that isn't fair. Sentencing reforming is highly recommended due to the outrageous modern sentencing practices we have today. People go to jail or maybe even prison for such petty crimes that doesn't deserve the many years that were given to them.
Felon Disenfranchisement: Is it Constitutional and Should Felons Be Allowed to Vote? Felon disenfranchisement is defined as, “Any convicted felon currently incarcerated or ex-felon now on parole or probation who cannot vote. ”(Brooks, 2005). There are nearly 5.3 million Americans who have been barred from voting due to criminal conviction (Okechukwu, 2022). This is important to consider because the United States is unlike any other democratic country in the world by doing this.
Finally, my last suggestion would be to alter the labels of ex-felonies for minor violations, and changing how to use the criminal check box. Once an ex-convict paid for their time in prison for inferior crimes we should not label then as a felon, so that they can apply for jobs and do not have to check on the felony box when applying for a job. Consequently, ex-convict could get a better chance to be hired, so that they truly have a chance to readjust in the society. People that who are labeled as a felon have a hard time applying for jobs, housings, and getting food stamps, making it impossible to survive and to provide for their family. They can lose their kids, their home, and become homeless and in other cases going back to jail.
United States citizens with a criminal background should be allowed to vote in their state of residency Ontreal Harris Professor Ross Composition II Reference Shaw, Jerry. “When Did Ex-Felons Lose Their Rights to Vote? A History.” Newsmax. Newsmax Media, Inc.
In most cases, felons are the result of failed social structures to begin with. It is form of discrimination. Felons should be allowed to vote on issues that affect their society. If they are born citizens of the United States, then they have the right to vote and should be able to vote after serving their punishment. A right is NOT a privilege and therefore should not be taken away, unless the crime committed relates to or specifically abuses that particular right.
Today, more and more people often find themselves on the opposite side of the law. This can be for various reasons and some of the people who are convicted for crimes may in fact be innocent. There has always been a controversy on whether convicted felons should be able to vote or if they should be ostracized from political matters in general. In Texas, voting rights should be unalienable and be given to everyone including felons when they are incarcerated because if everyone doesn’t have the right to vote, this could be seen as a form of discrimination and result in prejudice acts against them.
A recently released felon making the right moves then we are denying them the very basic human right to vote. In 2010, out of the voting population, 2.5% were denied the right to vote because of a previous felony conviction. In recent years, 28 states have passed laws that allow convicted felons to vote but only once they have completed their sentence and anything that was given to do upon being released from prison. Once released, this means that they have worked off the punishment that
A finding from a study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that 67.8 percent of ex-convicts were rearrested. Two-thirds of them spent their time in prison waiting for the release, only to go back into that dirty old cell again. Why don’t they try to get a real job, earn their own living and cherish the second chance we grant them. Let’s step down from the moral high ground for a second. Often released prisoners lack the skills and knowledge to keep up with the pace of society.
When people get out of prison they are afraid of going back. They don't have a reason to change. Most people don't have a way of even getting a job once there out as stated here, ”I work in a medium security prison in North Carolina that serves young men ages 18 to 25. There is one segment of our population that no program addresses. This is the group that will probably never be able to get a GED, and therefore they do not qualify for many of the programs designed to help with job
One example of how the right to vote has been taken away from American citizens is through the criminal justice system. The crime rate in America has been on the rise in the last decade, and research shows that there are nearly 5.8 million citizens in the United States that have been convicted of a felony; 4 million of those citizens with felonies are no longer in jail. Surprisingly, there are only two states, Maine and Vermont, that allow ex-felons to vote. Other states enforce disenfranchisement laws. Disenfranchisement laws are laws that strip one’s right to vote.
There’s a multitude of things that need to be repaired in our system, and prison is one of them. Prison reform is an important issue because we need to take care of everyone and with the way we treat criminals, we do not see them as equal. We need to assess illegal acts correctly instead of trying to put people in jail for the rest of their lives. We also need to work more on how we try to rehabilitate people. Instead of barring convicts off from the rest of us, we need to teach them how to integrate, so they can live better lives than they did
Is it right for an individual who has committed a violent crime to be able participate in voting? A felon should not have the right to vote because, they have displayed dishonesty and irresponsibility by committing a serious crime. Felons have questionable judgment when making decisions. Felons who are still incarcerated are not in the right mindset to make decisions for the public’s good interest. Further, there is no way of telling whether the felon has in fact improved in character since serving time.
The removal of this right dehumanizes prisoners. The streets of Texas are filled with blue or white collar criminals on bail or simply waiting for their sentence. Presently, if individual are found guilty of a crime, but they are not given a judicial sentence they are still allowed to vote; why should there be treated differently from convicted criminals who are locked up? However, allowing prisoners to vote while in prison would increase voting turnout and also Texas would gain the reputation of becoming one of the two states that allow prisoners to vote while in prison.
The right to vote was a privilege given to only a particular group of people in the past. The right to participate in the judicial system to some is an honor. This process allows people to voice and chose who they want in office or what issue they want to support. Voter Id laws are incorporated into our society as a form of control in order to keep people silent. Voter id laws are under controversy because the law is viewed as being discriminatory against minorities.