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Felons being able to vote and why it is important
A call to action for felons voting rights
A call to action for felons voting rights
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Should Felons Vote? In the United States 2.2 million citizens are incarcerated on felony charges. Laws in America prohibit felons from voting. As a result, on Election Day 5.3 million citizens of America are disenfranchised because of crimes they once committed. Though they once broke the law, they have served their time and have been punished adequately in accordance with the American Justice System. Felons should regain full voting rights after their stint in prison. 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...
What if one day you weren't allowed to voice your opinion about the people who run our country, your country, in other words, if you couldn’t vote? A lot of people don’t vote, but what if you didn’t even have the right to do so? In 12 states, ex-felons aren’t allowed to vote even after serving their prison time. When you think of a felon you probably think of someone that has done terrible things and shouldn't have a voice in politics, but that figure should be changed. One lady, by the name of Leola Strickland, isn’t allowed to vote because she has a felony on her record for postdating a few checks and having them bounce because she lost her job(1).
“Many people say that serious crime committers have shown they aren’t trustworthy” (Clegg). After a felon is released from prison, the expectation is that they will shape up and return to their lives, however most of their lives are completely changed. When a felon is released from prison, they should retain their same rights as a US citizen as well as their right to vote and serve in Jury Duty, because they served their time and cannot be held in double jeopardy, and are valuable assets to the country for work and less homelessness. When felons are released from prison, they should retain the 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 unable to vote because their judgment can no longer be trusted.
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.
The right to vote for non-citizens has become an increasingly controversial topic due to the strong and often divisive opinions of permanent Canadian residents. The capacity to vote is one of the most important and valued freedoms granted to individuals. Although the acceptance of non-citizen resident voting is frequently encouraged in order to propel self-governing justice and immigrant inclusion, opponents claim that it is in a nation’s best interest to delay voting rights to non-citizens. According to this claim, by preserving voting rights to citizens, non-citizens would have the social responsibility to actively learn the essential community services and self-ruled obligations necessary to earn their citizenship. In spite of this claim, non-citizens should be allowed to vote because the right to vote offers immigrants a more welcomed chance to contribute in the decision-making processes that take place in Canadian legislature. Seeing that this legislature administrates the rights and freedoms of the immigrant populations, it would only be just if immigrants had the right to elect candidates who spoke on behalf of their best interests.
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.
The “Election and voting: Voter Identification” is a debate between three sides with different opinions about the voter identification law. Each side is represented by Chandler Davidson, Hans von Spakovsky, and Edward Foley. This debate is about whether the voter identification laws should be in place or not. Davidson is against the voting id laws stating its historical context and how it will affect the minorities, older and student during the election time. Spakovsky supports the law saying “the law would prevent voter fraud” and make elections strong and fair. Third, position held by Foley is that voter fraud is a problem and voter id law would help prevent it, but we need to make sure that everyone will have an easy access to the designated places.
Criminal disenfranchisement is defined as the loss of the right to vote by a person convicted of or sentenced to imprisonment for a felony. Since before the civil war, this practice has been a part of the United States justice system mostly as a means to handle the racial issues with voting but then also in regards to the felons and rebels that participated in the Southern “rebellion” during the Civil War. This practice has recently gained some popularity since a debate has developed as to whether it is unconstitutional or not. Is voting a right or a privilege?
...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.
Some of the greatest thinker’s business men/women, and owners has a record. Rather it's being arrested for guilty by association, murder, and etc. Even with degrees some of them will still be put behind bars. Anything can happen at any given moment. Even some of them who has a felony did a three sixty turn around and started their own business or became president of a business or congress. The only question is who would they vote for and why would they vote for them? In certain states if you have a felony you can vote after you did your time, depending on how many felonies you have on record, and etc. I believe felons should have a right to vote if they want to vote. They should have an option on do they want to vote or not. Why? Well let's look at it like this. Let's say
Should juveniles be sentenced to prison for life? Should juveniles be trialed as adults after committing a heinous crime and sentenced to life? As a teenager, this question is far too complicated to answer because I am a teenager yet in my opinion, I believe that the juvenile should not be sentenced to life. I believe that there is another way to punish them for their crimes. The last execution was in 2006 in California.
A eighteen year old boy was allowed to vote for a president but he couldn't smoke. Eighteen year old should be able to buy tobacco. When you're eighteen you can vote,Join the military, and be treated as an adult for a crime. Most of the things that you can do when you're eighteen you can do when you're twenty one expects buying tobacco now and alcohol. There was a time before were eighteen olds could buy tobacco for many years , so why change it now.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, “The racial disparities resulting from this system have been staggering. Black individuals are imprisoned at nearly six times the rate of their white counterparts — and Latinos are locked up at nearly double the white rate. Most of this racial disparity is a result of the War on Drugs. While these groups engage in drug use, possession, and sales at rates comparable to their representation in the general population, the system disparately impacts people of color. Now with this ugly fact in mind they are dealing out harsh penalties to one time offenders ruining their chances of getting other jobs, not evening trying to give them a better chance of getting another job and eliminating their opportunity to vote. While taking away an ex-convict's ability to vote may seem like a good idea they have been in prison for quite awhile thinking about what they've done wrong and the American judicial system seeing the other side of it seems like who better to vote then them. Even more disturbingly, one must wonder if race plays a part in the sentence some offenders receive because a study was conducted with a man name Jose Zamora. Now he dropped one letter from his name changing it to Joe a name commonly given to a caucasian man, and the experiment was to see who would get more job reponses joe or jose the answer obviously being joe. In short police
Prison inmates should be able work and spend time doing community service to contribute to society to repay for their wrong doing and develop a better character. This practice is available in some prisons and has so far, been proven effective. Labor for inmates should not be mandatory, but should be something the inmates are allowed to consider. By being able to function in the workplace, inmates will overtime develop a better sense of common knowledge in regards to being responsible and doing the right thing, be able to function in the workplace and in society, and get paid after their sentence for all of the work they’ve done.