A felon is a person who commits serious, sometimes violent crimes that are punishable by several years of imprisonment or death. Once they have finished serving their sentence, ex-felons return to the world under a set of regulations designed to limit their interaction with certain parts of society, which aims toward keeping the public safe. Recently, many individuals have begun questioning the constitutionality of some of these rules, such as the taking away the right to vote. Those in favor of letting ex-felons regain this right argue that they have already served a long enough sentence, and returning this privilege may help them become more involved in society and prevent relapsing behavior. On the other hand, many argue that felons should …show more content…
Voting is an important civic reasonability that acts as ones’ voice in governmental decisions, even though many do not consider it meaningful. Ex-felons lose this right, among many others, to further drive the message that their behavior was unacceptable. Kwame Akosah, an author for the Miami Herald, considers the implementations of this idea in Florida in his article “Restore Ex-Felons’ Voting Rights — It’s the Right Thing”. According to him, taking away the seven-year waiting period that ex-felons must undergo to receive clemency would “fix a bureaucratic and costly system that provides zero benefits for the state” (Akosah). While he claims Florida is only burdened from the current clemency process, this long waiting period ensures that ex-felons have had time for the seriousness of their actions to sink in. It would be inefficient to restore the right to vote only to have to take it away again. This would not only cost the state money, but it rewards ex-felons who have no intention of changing their behavior. If one allows these types of ex-felons to vote, the laws are being influenced by people who have mal intentions towards society, and essentially, criminals have dictation in the lives of non-criminals. Going along with this, von Spakovsky further references a report from the Florida Department of Corrections stating the “recidivism rate of felons ranged from 31 percent to 34 percent on average over a five-year period” (von Spakovsky). Should the right to vote be restored, approximately 30 to 35 percent of ex-felons in Florida would experience relapse behavior, obviously not have learning their lesson from the time served in their sentence. If the state is interested in saving time and money, they should focus more on preventing the behavior in the first place
Some people in our country can’t vote because they have felons for the same reason. They aren’t violent criminals, they just made a small mistake or two and now can’t have a voice in our political system because of it. You are in a sense taking away their voice and they think they no longer matter, they may even commit more crimes if they feel unwanted or left out. When released felons are released and have paid their debt to society denying them the right to vote it is essentially taxation without representation(3).
When felons are released from prison they should retain their same rights as the average US citizen as well as the right to vote. Nonviolent felons who have served time for more than a year for misdemeanors are
Parole is a controversial issue because its vase ways to debate the challenges and problems that will exist. It’s like a side effect to medication based on one’s effectiveness belief. In like manner, the public media allows others who aren’t immediately effected to become tertiary, and secondary victims. It is the door to open opinions. An inmate is released from a sentence given parole and then assigned a parole and probation officer. The one thing that will make probation and parole successful is the supervision of the program and rehabilitation or residential treatment center. This will support the goal to maximize the good behavior and minimize the harmful behaviors of individuals. Probation is a good program because it’s a form of rehabilitation that gives inmates elevate space to obey rules and regulations. On the contrary, probation is risky just like any new diet plan that people use to
The feelings of allowing felons to vote is chilling; those who have been to prison have committed crimes and are out to get their rights back. But it is clear that felons should be “disenfranchised because they have broken the laws,” says Edward Feser, a philosophy professor and writer. Yet people are still questioning whether it is moral to keep felons from getting the rights to vote. Disenfranchising felons is unintentional in racial issues, and is used to punish felons to teach them that once they've broken the laws, they have lost their voting rights as well, and it would also keep felons from violating fellow citizens' voting rights.
Most politicians argue that because a felon has committed a crime that their judgment can no longer be trusted. Some believe that they gave up there civil liberties when they chose to commit a crime. However, with the exception of children and the mentally incompetent, people who have to live with the consequences of an election should have their opinion counted. Convicts lose their civil rights while incarcerated. Others who agree with felons regaining their voting rights argued that if they really could not be trusted to change then they should never be let out of prison. Although they lost their civil liberties w...
Many people believe that felons do not deserve the right to vote. For these people, voting is not an inherent right; rather it is a privilege given to deserving people that wish to make a positive change to their lives. Some believe that, “…there is no reason for a felon to vote or to debate about whether or not they have that right…they made the choice to break the law, so why should they have any say in making it?” {Siegel} In this point of view, giving felons the right to vote is similar to rewarding them. With the right to vote, felons are still able to sway decisions regarding the lives of a society they are no longer a part of. Felons are meant to be punished, stripped of numerous rights including that of voting. Punishments, then, are made to restrict a person, not give them more freedom and decision.
Felon voting laws limit the restrictions for a felon to vote on any election. “Felon voting has not been federally regulated because some people argue that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can be tied to felon disenfranchisement and the Congress has the authority to legislate felon voting in federal elections.” Felon disenfranchisement is excluding people otherwise eligible to vote from voting due to conviction of a criminal offence, usually restricted to the more serious class of crimes, felonies. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures and The Sentencing Project, 1 in 40 adults were unable to vote due to a felony conviction in the 2008 elections. One purpose of the felon voting laws is the uncertainty of trusting
Once released from prison, he or she is deemed a felon. Losing the right to vote, not being able to serve on a jury, and inability to enforce his or her second amendment is just a few of the disadvantages of serving time, but this is just the textbook interpretation. There is no much more that is at stake when you step foot behind bars. Once a person gains their freedom the better question to ask is what wasn’t taken form them? Their job if there was one in the first place, their children, their family, and most importantly the part of the person that made them a member of society.
The United States is one of the only few democratic countries that disenfranchises convicted felons. An estimated 5.85 million people charged with a felony are banned from voting. Moreover, felon disenfranchisement laws are a form of racial discrimination because a large percentage of felons are Hispanic, Latino or African American that have been incarcerated as a result of racial profiling. Denying felons from voting is unconstitutional since the right to vote and cast a ballot is supposed to be the cornerstone of democracy. Felons who have completed their sentence should be restored their right to vote as they should be able to participate in elections just like every other citizen. Despite being charged with a felony, felons are also American
Should Felons Lose the Right to Vote? Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/03/22/should-felons-lose-the-right-to-vote/. Karlan, Pamela (2004). The 'Pale of the 'Pale of the 'Pale of the "Convictions and Doubts: Retribution, Representation, and the Debate" over Felon Disenfranchisement," Stanford Law Review, Vol. 78, No. 1, pp 56, No. 2 -. 5, Krajick, Kevin. The Species of the World.
Parole and probation programs have been designed as alternatives to the confinement of a prison cell. The programs have been created for the portion of offenders who do not pose a threat to public safety. In the year 2008, the average daily cost for supervision of a probationer or parolee was about $4. The average daily cost to house an inmate was about $80. Obviously, if the individual was not a risk to the community they should be placed in these programs rather than be put in prison and suck taxpayers dry. If an offender is placed on parole or probation there are two ways they can end up in prison; committing a new crime or breaching conditions of their probation. Facts prove that life in prison without parole is swift, strict, and specific punishment. Those condemned to life have been sentenced to expire in prison. Between three different states figures varied from $18,000 to $26,000. The death penalty and life in prison are way more expensive than placing offenders who are not hazards to society in programs like parole and probation.
...he right to vote. I made a ten question survey that asked questions about letting convicted felons have the right to vote in major elections throughout America. Thirteen out of thirty high school students said that convicted felons should have the right to vote because they are American citizens. The other seventeen people I surveyed said that they should not have the right to vote because they had their chance to perform correctly in society and failed miserably. As you can now see, I have given you many reasons to see that convicted felons should not have the right to vote. They cannot be trusted with such a responsibility as voting for this country’s next leader.
In most states ex-felons are not allowed to vote. This takes away a large portion of the voting population because of how many ex-felons there are right now and the many more that will be in the future. Ex-felons may also have a very hard time finding a job or a place to live. Legally landlords are allowed to deny an ex-felon. In Carbondale Illinois rental properties owners “Home Rentals” does background checks to make sure that none of their potential renters are felons. If they are felons Home Rentals claims that they will deny them the privilege of living in one of their properties. Ex-felons may also have a hard time finding jobs. Not many employers are willing to employ ex-felons for the fear of more crime or less commitment. Though denying these ex-felons jobs will not help the economy, only giving them jobs can help that.
Although this right is considered fundamental, restrictions have been placed on this right. The main restriction is placed on persons convicted of a felony conviction, all felonies, not just infamous ones. Today on Election Day, as Americans wait in line to cast their vote, over 4.65 million people are denied this most fundamental democratic right because of a past or present felony conviction. It is true that some felons can make bad judgments that are provocative and rebellious and the foundation to further jeopardy. In fact, statistics show the number of times prisoners had been arrested was the best predictor of whether they would commit more crimes after being released and how quickly they would return to their criminal ways....
The question should felons and ex-felons be allowed to vote is a valid question in our society. It is often thrown back and forth whether these people who have been committed of a crime should be allowed to have the right to vote in the United States. Often in this country the felons or ex-felons have the right to vote, but their right to vote is made more difficult to use because of costs that they have to pay after going to jail and other standards that make in nearly impossible for the felon to accomplish in order to vote. They end up not being able to fulfill their duties of being an American. Conservatives and deliberate democrats have their own opinions on the issue of should felons be able to vote.