The root of Felon Disenfranchisement can be traced back to Greek and Roman laws. Where any person convicted of an infamous crime would lose his or her right to participate in polis. In Rome they would lose their right to participate in suffrage and to serve in the Roman legions. With the founding of the United States of America, the US Constitution gave the right to establish voting laws to the states. From 1776 - 1821 eleven states included felony disenfranchisement in their laws (Voter Registration Protection Act). By 1868 when the fourteenth Amendment was enacted eighteen states had adopted disenfranchisement laws. After the Civil War felony Disenfranchisement laws were used along with poll taxes and literary test to exclude African Americans from voting. The right to vote is considered to be one of the fundamental rights of citizenship in the United States. This right is more than just the right to mark a piece of paper and drop it in a box or the right to pull a lever in a voting booth. The right to vote includes the right to have a ballot counted for as a legal voting citizen. 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...
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Work Cited
’’Advocacy Toolkit ''Standards for hiring people with Criminal records .11 Mar.2010
‘’Legal Affairs’’ http://www.legalaffairs.org/webexclusive/debateclub_disenfranchisement1104.msp
‘’Locked Out’’ Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy .11 Mar.2010
Prison Segregation and Felon Disenfranchisement
‘’ Salary caps’’ role restrictions or bans for convicted felons .3 Mar. 2010
US Department of Justice - Bureau of Justice Statistics
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/
Voter Registration Protection Act .11 Mar.2010
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1553510,00.html#ixzz0iOMFvwUW
Finally the 15th Amendment was made in 1870 to assure that every person in the US had the right to vote and no one could take that right away as a result of race, color or because citizens used to be slaves.
The assumption that all three-time offenders are incorrigible criminals is an oversimplification of a more complex problem. Three-strikes is based on this assumption that a few extreme cases are representative of all criminals. Mimi Silbert points...
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).
The 15th amendment was quick to follow the Civil War, making it illegal to deny the right to vote to anyone on account of their race. Blacks did not actually gain the right to vote in all states until The Voting Rights Act in the 1960s. The government gave blacks the right to vote because they saw it could produce an immediate political gain. Nothing could be gained from allowing women to vote, so the government refrained from amending the constitution for women.
The Fourteenth Amendment What amendment to the United States constitution is considered to be illegally ratified? What amendment both grants the right to vote to men and then takes away that right to vote? If you answered the fourteenth amendment to both questions you would be right. Although most people think of the fourteenth amendment as being a "civil rights" amendment, it also defines citizenship, voting rights, and states congressional representatives and electors numbers. In this paper I will talk about how the passage of the fourteenth amendment was a relevant event in history, how it impacts our country today, how it is viewed as the civil rights amendment in our textbook, how it has both positive and negative elements to it,
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.
Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, examines the development of institutionalized racism following the war on drugs, and how it has created what Alexander calls a “New Jim Crow era,” or a racial caste in the US. Alexander describes this undercaste as, “a lower caste of individuals who are permanently barred by law and custom from mainstream society,” (Alexander, 32). Not only is this because of mass incarceration rates among black men, but extends to the effects that these branded felons must face beyond prison walls. By checking the well known box on any application, it has become legal for almost any institution or corporation to discriminate against a marked felon. Alexander notes that, “Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination – employment discrimination, housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunity, denial of food stamps and other public benefits, and exclusio...
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for a number of reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. The ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system is caused by mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism.
whims of state legislatures. Laws that prohibit felons from voting are a punishment above and
Felon is a film that was released in 2008 about a man named Wade Porter who is sent to prison after he hits a man who was burglarizing his house, with a baseball bat, and unintentionally kills him. Wade then ends up with a sentence of three years in state prison for involuntary manslaughter. While on the bus to Corcoran State Prison, the leader of the Aryan brotherhood in the movie stabs and murders a man, and the proceeds to hand the knife to a younger member of the Aryan Brotherhood named Snowman, and Snowman places the knife under Wade’s seat. When Wade is asked who hid the knife under his seat, he won’t
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?
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.
The right to vote in the United States of America had always been a very important part of its society. The 1800s had brought about a different way of voting in the United States for white American men. The qualifications were
Furthermore, the tremendous incarceration costs to our society do not stop at finances; the costs also include long-lasting negative effects on individuals, families, and communities. The impact of incarceration on crime rates is surprisingly small and must be considered against both its high financial and high social costs to prisoners, their families, and their communities (Schmitt).
“If you go to jail, I won't bet a nickel on your future” From person experiences Garvey knows exactly how a jail cell can affect a person's future and reputation. Jail causes a person to become damaged psychologically . Additionally, prison typically will not stop a person from repeating mistakes due to the fact that it will not push the person to work through their obstacles or their resentment. Without help, that person would continue to be in trouble, potentially ruining their reputation. Once a potential employer, or even a current friend apprehends their record, it is likely that their thoughts regarding them would become negative quickly. Repetitive jail time tarnishes character as well as reputation.