Should Felons Be A Crime?

Those that are against such a disenfranchisement, however, have arguments of their own. The first such argument observes that not all felons are evil or immoral to the same degree; in many cases, those that are arrested are average citizens and do not deserve such harsh treatment. According to statistics of the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) of the Federal Bureau of Investigations of 2007 approximately 14,380,370 arrests were made nationwide, or 4,832.5 of every 100,000 people. Arrests and convictions are not made solely on murderers, molesters, and rapists; common nonviolent crimes, such as shoplifting or drug possession, are included in these statistics as well. Sanford McLaughlin, a Mississippi resident, was disenfranchised for life because he was found guilty of passing a bad check for $150 (“Losing” 5). The law automatically assumes that McLaughlin is a criminal; in reality, he could be an upstanding citizen that made one poor decision that affected his entire life. Unfortunately, disenfranchisement laws do not look at crime itself, just at the occurrence of such an incident. There is no regard for felon’s criminal history, or lack thereof, or the type of crime he committed. Another factor regarding the lack of wisdom is the age of

While some reinstate a felon’s rights as soon as they complete their sentence, others force them

“We let ex-convicts marry, reproduce, buy beer, own property and drive. They don’t lose their freedom of religion, their right against self-incrimination… they can’t be trusted to help choose our leaders… If we thought criminals could never be reformed, we wouldn’t let them out of prison in the first place (Chapman, Steve).” Many believe that felons should be able to vote due to the fact that they served their time in prison and already received their consequence. When felons already served their time, they are told they have their “freedom”. Yet, they do not have the same rights they did before they were arrested. Felons have paid enough of a price by serving their assigned sentence which shouldn’t lead

Felons should be allowed to vote because everyone else can. Women and blacks weren’t able to vote, but now they can. If everyone else can vote why can’t they. They are citizens too. We can’t take their freedom away. After they get out we let them drive, buy beer and drive, but we don’t let them vote. Now if someone can go and buy beer and drive they could hurt people, but if you do drugs then you can’t vote. Not all felons did terrible crimes, Some of them just messed up once and now they can’t vote for the rest of their lives.

“The United States has among the world's most restrictive felon disenfranchisement laws” (Green). The areas in the United States that do not allow ex-felons the right to

Every individual deserves the right to vote despite color or gender even if they are a convicted felon. This country was founded off of freedom from declaring itself independent. Even though individuals have committed certain crimes they should at least have a way to earn their freedom back in some type of way. The first step in this process would be making it automatic in every state ,after the process of rehabilitation felons should have their rights reinstated . The reason for this statement is to clarify that anybody can make a mistake . But it should be a way that felons should one day be seen as everyone else including the right to get any job. There is no direct resolution to the problem but the nation should really be concerned with this issue.

Although felons are a criminal who have committed a dangerous crime by rebelling against the law and have been punished by politics and government of the United States the right not to vote; as a result they were denied of voting right. However, taking away the right to vote is like appealing against the constitution of the fourteen amendments which state that every person have the right to be free from discrimination and to have the equal of the law. Therefore, felons should be given the right to vote when he or she bore an American citizen or naturalized as an American citizen; as a result no one should be denied the right from voting not when you are a citizen and have served their sentences.

Felons in and out of prison are not allowed to vote in the majority of the states. Not including Maine and Vermont, “48 states currently restrict the right of felons to vote” (Feser). “An estimated 5.85 million people with a felony conviction are barred from voting in elections - a condition known as disenfranchisement” (ProCon). Every state has their own laws regarding disenfranchisement. According to “Should Felons Vote?”, there was “a movement to overturn these restrictions that gained swift momentum during the 2004 presidential campaign, and pending legal and legislative measures promise to keep the issue in the headlines in the months to come” (Feser).

Given that the issue of felon disenfranchisement is a state’s issue and not a federal issue, there is wide variety in how these laws are carried out. They can generally be placed under four categories: currently incarcerated felons, felons who have been released and given parole, felons who have been sentenced to probation, and felons who have completed their sentence and have no further ties with the criminal justice system (Uggen 2004, 494). One key aspect of the United States felon disenfranchisement policy is that virtually no other democratic world disenfranchises felons at the rate that the United States does. While other countries still impose restrictions on felons and inmates voting, those countries don’t have the extensive mass incarceration system that the United States has (Uggen 2004,

Intersectional oppression does not stop when felons are released from prison. It follows them even after they have served their time. Black people are much less likely to be hired for a job after they are released from, making them more likely to return to crime in order to make money, in fact, many are left with no other choice. Black people and Latinx people are also much more likely to be stopped by the police for “suspicious behavior” than whites, even if a white person had been doing the same thing in the same neighborhood. This makes former prisoners who are people of color much more likely to either become homeless or be arrested once again, trapping them once more in the unjust criminal justice system. Another strike against a former

The words “civil death” carry a powerful, fear-inducing quality and they should. Millions of Americans have experienced the loss of civil rights on varying levels since the founding of this country over 200 years ago. Many more in other countries throughout history have experienced the same fate. England adopted the idea of denying convicts their right to vote from ancient Greece and Rome. In addition to losing the right to vote, England also took a convict’s property, denied them the right to appear in court, and also prohibited them from entering into contracts. This practice of civil death was carried over from England and implemented in the colonies when they settled in North America. ("Felony Voting Rights") Although the application of civil death has altered as the United States of America matured as a country, it remains as a widely debated topic in current events. Whether felons should regain their civil rights after they have “paid their debt to society” or not is rarely addressed by the federal government. It is, however, a topic that is addressed on a state level in many states almost every year. Some believe that a felon should lose their civil rights indefinitely. Others believe that once someone has served their sentence and paid their fines and restitution, civil rights should be fully restored. While many civil disabilities remain in place for felons, 30 states repealed or amended their laws dealing with

“Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination - employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of education opportunity, denial of

Should a mass murderer vote? Most people would agree that any person with such a body count should not participate in electing those who are next in line to run the country. Now, should a felon of a lesser crime vote? Most would still agree, but when you detail it, it starts to get complicated. A felon who was in prison for selling drugs in order to keep his family afloat? A felon who found himself/herself in a tight spot and made some bad decisions for the sake of their family? These types of details are what complicate the debate over whether or not ex-felons or even felons deserve a vote. It would seem like an easy choice: No. However, the optimal answer should be that it varies case by case. Especially after prison, parole, and probation, there should be a process for ex-felons to gain the right to vote back after they have paid the price for bad deeds.

The question is asked, Should felons be allowed to live in public housing? This seems to have been a concern stemming from A law passed in 1998 called The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act, signed into law by former President Bill Clinton, the law led to new rules from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on who could and couldn’t receive federal housing assistance. They gave local public housing jurisdiction in using criminal background checks to refuse applicants admission to public housing. If you were a sex offender your eligibility is automatically denied, in some cases and states this includes prostitution. Drug-related crimes can get you banned from receiving vouchers also. In many cities, you can become ineligible

Many people who are being convicted of felonies have collateral consequences. Collateral consequences are "civil an/or political rights that are lost temporarily is some cases, or permanently in others following a felony conviction" (Alarid,pg.252). Most people who are convicted felons and suffer from collateral consequences, can ruin their reputation which can make difficult for the felon to be trustful or be credible in society. While most of the consequences are mostly temporary when spending time in correctional supervision, others can last a life time. In the book, they gave good reasons why offenders are removed some of their civil rights. One of reason is that they remove their rights to maintain public confidence in the court system