Felon Disenfranchisement Essay

How is it that ex-felons are not allowed to vote once they have served their time in prison? Why is it that a nation who is considered to be democratic like the United States does not allow ex-felons to vote even after serving time in prison? Meanwhile, other developed and industrialized nations allow their incarcerated population form part of the electorates. Is our criminal justice system objective as we think of it?
Felon disenfranchisement has been an ongoing issue throughout all fifty states where laws vary. Since the founding of this nation felon disenfranchisement has been a common thing, Article 1 Section 2 of the U.S constitution grants states the authority to define who can vote in federal elections and as a result felon disqualification has remained a common component of the federal elections. This means that if someone commits a crime in one state and he or she is considered a felon but in another state that same crime is considered a misdemeanor. The fact that the laws in these states target certain groups where the demographics of those states are predominately composed of minorities it may seem like a coincidence but many believe it is an indirect form of discrimination. African Americans did not have the right to suffrage until after the Civil Rights movements. They were granted the right to vote through The Voting Rights Act, but before that they were discriminated from voting through discriminatory laws that states implemented like the Jim Crow laws. After the Civil rights movement the Southern democratic elites, in order to maintain control of the government, amended their constitutions in ways which disenfranchised ex-felons. They argued that they were not discriminating based on race but rather by the crimes...

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... Liberties Union) who advocated for felons and the rights through courts, legislatures and groups to preserve rights that are granted to every citizen in the Constitution and the laws of The United States. They also help ex- felons through the process of regaining their rights back. Their job is primarily to get the issue of ex-felon voting on the public agenda both on a state and national level. Although there is yet a lot of work to be done the ACLU has helped many people in the fight for regaining civil liberties. We ask ourselves why is it that we have such low voter turnout rates when it comes to presidential elections not to mention state and local election that have far worse turnout. But we fail to factor in the amount of people who are barred from voting sometimes for life. Felon voting laws disenfranchise about 5.85 million Americans with criminal record.