enough discrimination against us, and feeling alienated leads to recidivism. I served my sentence. I paid my debt to society. Why am I still doing time?" - Perry Hopkins, convicted felon and current community organizer for Communities United, talking about voting rights in Maryland. A look into our ever-changing society filled with diverse people and their varying viewpoints gives us a place to look at when it comes to conviction of crimes and its aftermath. Problems we face are the issue on what justice
“There is an estimated number of 5.85 million Americans who are prohibited from voting due to laws that disenfranchise citizens convicted of felony offenses.” (Uggen). Varying by state, each disenfranchisement law is different. Only 2 out of 50 U.S. states; Vermont & Maine, authorize voting from convicted felons incarcerated and liberated as shown in (Fig. 1). But of the 48 remaining states these rights are either prohibited or authorized in at least 5 years succeeding to liberation. This disenfranchisement
Many views have been made on ex-felon’s voting right. People debate on whether or not the people who have committed these crimes should be able to vote or if that right should be taken away. The majority of people believe the individuals who commit these crimes should still retain their right to vote, which is true. A felony is a violent crime, it is considered to be more serious than a misdemeanor. When committing a felony it would be punishable to more than a year in prison. Felonies tend to be
Should convicted felons have the right to vote? How would you feel if one mistake caused one of your main rights as citizens to be taken away? Today, people who have paid their dues are denied their innate right to vote and to participate in decisions that governs their lives. Convicted felons who served their time have an innate right to vote and failure to allow ex-felons to vote has a disproportionate impact on my minority communities. Having the right to vote is a part of being an American
categorized as those who have committed murder, rape, or aggravated theft or assault; it is because of this that prisoners, especially felons are believed and prohibited from the right to vote — a right that has been fought for which led to bloodshed in the United States. Those in favor of the prohibition of the prisoners’ right to vote believe that they are unfit to do so because of the poor choices and bad judgements which led them to their associated predicaments. Although there are others that believe
For many years, Americans have fought to obtain the voting rights present generations have today. From the civil war in the 1860’s, to the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama during the 1960’s, from veteran soldiers in a struggle to survive, to the peaceful protesters abused in a chaotic frenzy. These are the factors that managed to secure future generations a right to vote. Combating the restrictive laws of voting and battling against voting discrimination, however, are the issues many American
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
with voting rights from voting. I interpret that the causes of voter suppression derives from that of equality issues or a misconception of government. However, history recorded the effects of voter suppression which leads to major violence, rebellion, strikes, or in some cases fear. The jarring act of voter suppression began early as 1776 when white men owning property were allowed to vote denying Jews, Catholics, and others their voting rights. There were many credentials in order to voting which
unconstitutional, it was all too normal in the early history of our country. Voting is an important right to have as a citizen. By voting you are voicing your opinion on subjects that will affect every aspect of your daily life. For people to not have the right to vote and help make the life they want for themselves is not fair. The following fifteenth, nineteenth, twenty-fourth, and twenty-sixth amendments gave people the suffrage rights they deserved. African Americans had been made citizens after
When the United States was still in its infancy, state versus national citizenship had no clear distinction due to the fact that noncitizen suffrage “was not controversial because voting rights were based on property and race, not citizenship” (Renshon 2008). Although it was without meaning, a precedent was set for which people were to vote in America’s elections: white men. Professor Leon E. Aylsworth (1931), a political science professor who assisted in the drafting of several laws in the Nebraska