The American lifestyle has always been guided by our ability to vote. This opportunity has given people voices, and have the United States of America’s citizen influence what the USA really is. However, a group of American voices have been silenced because of laws instituted by the same government that so dearly protects our natural human rights. Felons, who have paid back their debt to society, are having their voting rights permanently, or at the pitiful least, temporarily suspended. This paradoxical denial of voting rights to the felon population is wrong, because felons are American citizens, and we all deserve the right to vote.
Felon disenfranchisement is causing a large population of people to be denied the right to vote. A chart presented by ProCon.org shows that states, such as Florida, have more that a million citizens that are denied the right to vote due to felony charges (2012). This computes to one in every forty Americans denied the right to vote (Star-Ledger Editorial Board, 2014). Furthermore this high amount of American citizen refused voting rights, has cause mass confusion even for the states that allow felons to vote after their term of suspension (Siegal, 2011). Thusly, the 5 million people that are already estimated to be denied voting rights, has even more people because they are unaware of their opportunities, due to other felons being ineligible to vote.
Continually, small legal action are being taken to help fix felons who are denied the right to vote. The Attorney General has been “urging states to repeal their laws that prohibit millions of felons from voting” (Star-Ledger Editorial Board, 2014). This is because, the removal voting rights for felons is punishing felons even more, even if they had a...
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...(2011). Felon Disenfranchisement and the fight for universal suffrage. Social Work, 56.1, 89. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from the Academic OneFile database.
Star-Ledger Editorial Board. (2014, February 14). New Jersey denies too many felons the right to vote: Editorial. NJ.com. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/02/new_jersey_should_not_deny_felons_the_vote_editorial.html
Storm, N. (2014, February 19). Senate rewrites felon voting rights measure, then passes it after Rand Paul testified in favor of the concept. cn|2 Pure Politics -. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://mycn2.com/politics/senate-rewrites-felon-voting-rights-measure-then-passes-it-after-rand-paul-testified-in-favor-of-the-concept
The most patriotic thing we can do is vote. (2013, April 18). YouTube. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjUCihqMklw
To begin, Alexander points out how felons are depicted as life-long prisoners in her article ”The New Jim Crow”. However, Alexander states that The War on Drugs caused many blacks to be put in prison and scrutinized by the government thereafter. Similarly, according to Arnold, welfare/workfare recipients are under constant supervision and are required to work menial jobs. In addition, Arnold mentio...
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).
“I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” As Americans, we say this to honor our state and because we are proud of what we as a citizen of America have done to make it the America that is today. Americans weren’t the only ones that helped; veterans were a big part of the success that made our country the America that I believe in.
Wadley, Jared. "Panel: Ex-felons Should Be Allowed to Vote." January 9, 2012 | The University
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...
One of the more controversial debates in today’s political arena, especially around election times, is that of felon disenfranchisement. The disenfranchisement of felons, or the practice of denying felons and ex-felons the right to vote, has been in practice before the colonization of America and traces back to early England; however, it has not become so controversial and publicized until recent times. “In today’s political system, felons and ex-felons are the only competent adults that are denied the right to vote; the total of those banned to vote is approximately 4.7 million men and women, over two percent of the nation’s population” (Reiman 3).
In 1965, at a time of racial discrimination in America and the emergence of a strong Civil Rights Movement, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which prohibits discrimination in voting. Congress could not end racial discrimination in voting by suing one jurisdiction, state, etc. at a time, a lot of time. Rather, Congress passed Section 5 of the VRA, which required states and local governments with a history of racially discriminating voting practices to get the approval of the U.S. Attorney General or a three-judge panel for the U.S. District Court for D.C. (“preclearace”) in order to make any changes to their voting practices. Section 4(b) said that the preclearance requirement applied to states and political subdivisions that used a “test or device” to limit voting and in which less than 50% of the population was registered to vote, or voted, in the presidential elections of 1964, 1968, or 1972.
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
Bryan Stevenson grew up poor on the Del-Marva peninsula, a grandchild of Virginia slaves. He is a public interest lawyer, founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery Alabama. He has dedicated his life to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the unjustly condemned (Stevenson, 2012). He writes this book to allow the reader to get close to, “mass incarceration and extreme
... 2 -. Copyright 2006 by Northwestern University, School of Law. Hull, Elizabeth. The Disenfranchisement of Ex-Felons.
"Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws." Brennan Center for Justice. New York University School of Law, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
...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.
The most problematic conclusion about Mass Incarceration, whatever the causes or practices, is that currently America has had the highest national prison rates in the world; furthermore, the rates of minorities (particularly African Americans) are extraordinarily disproportionate to the rates of incarcerated Caucasians. Despite the overall rise in incarceration rates since the 1980s, the crime rates have not been reduced as would be expected. Researchers, activists, and politicians alike are now taking a closer look at Mass Incarceration and how it affects society on a larger scale. The purpose of this paper is to examine the anatomy of Mass Incarceration for a better understanding of its importance as a dominant social issue and its ultimate relation to practice of social work. More specifically the populations affected by mass incarceration and the consequences implacable to social justice. The context of historical perspectives on mass incarceration will be analyzed as well as insight to the current social welfare policies on the
333-356. Mauer, Marc. A. The Race to Incarcerate. The Case For Penal Abolition?