In today’s world, we treat criminals and offenders that are out of prison in a similar manner to how people were treated in the Jim Crow era. One example of the new Jim Crow Era is Sonya Jennings. Sonya is a felon as well as an African American mother. She was given an eight years probation after being arrested for possession of narcotics. Since Sonya is now tagged as a felon, she does not have the right to vote, she cannot receive public welfare, and she faces job discrimination (Alexander). The Jim Crow system has been planned in America today, legalizing discrimination for people with past criminal activity’s and records (Alexander). After slavery was in abolished between the 1870’s to the mid 1960’s in the Southern States, The Jim Crow laws was the practice of discriminating against African Americans, This Laws were the belief that whites were superior and more dominate to blacks. So they kept public places segregated and placed restrictions upon blacks. Restriction of the right to vote was a version of social control that African Americans were shown the hardships of. As a citizen of the United States of American, you might think you have the freedom to vote. However, if you are a black American and live in the South, you do not.” This is quoted by author Stetson Kennedy in his book called Jim Crow Guide: The Way It Was (147). A lot of black Americans that lived in the Southern states were not able to vote, and even if they wanted to or tried to, they had to pass certain tests or even pay outrageous poll taxes that they could not afford. Also, places that were hiring workers were segregated as well; “White southerners would not want to work under black supervisors and most white craftsmen did not hire African... ... middle of paper ... ...d Glaze, Lauren E and Maruschak, Laura M. “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children.” BureauofJusticeStatistics.gov, Bureau of Justice Statistics. 8 Aug. 2008: 1. PDF File. Kennedy, Stetson. Jim Crow Guide: The Way It Was. Boca Raton: Florida Atlantic University Press, 1990. Print. Karjick, Kevin. “Why Can’t Ex-Felons Vote?” Washingtonpost.com. Washington Post, 18 Aug. 2004: A19. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Remembering Jim Crow: African Americans Tell About Life in the Segregated South. New York: New Press, 2001. Print. “Return of Debtors’ Prisons.” New York Times, 14 Jul 2012. A16. Print. “Stresses of poverty may impair learning ability in young children.” National Institutes of Health. NIH News, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Tahmincioglu, Eve. “Unable to get Jobs, Freed Inmates Return to Jail.” MSNBCNews.com. NBC News, 17 Feb. 2010. 1. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.
If felons are allowed to vote, one must consider the effects it would have on the elections. Many people believe that felons make the wrong choices for a reason, that they are clearly lacking something law-abiding citizens have. Professor Christopher Manfredi ...
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 Washington Post. Why Can't Ex-Felons Vote? Lewis, Gregory. The Species of the World.
Spakovsky, H. A. (2013, March 15). Ex-cons Should Prove They Deserve the Right to Vote. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from The Heritage: http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2013/3/excons-should-prove-they-deserve-the-right-to-vote
Simmons, Charlene Wear. Children of Incarcerated Parents. Rep. California Research Bureau, Mar. 2000. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Standards for Hiring People with Criminal Records. 11 Mar 2010. http://www.lac.org/ ‘’Legal Affairs’’ http://www.legalaffairs.org/webexclusive/debateclub_disenfranchisement1104.msp ‘’Locked Out’’ Felon Disenfranchisement and American Democracy. 11 Mar. 2010. http://www.powells.com/biblio/65-9780195149326-0 Prison Segregation and Felon Disenfranchisement.
Uggen, Christopher, and Jeff Manza. "Why Should Felons Vote?" Democracys Ghost. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
In the New York Times editorial “Florida’s 1.5 Million Missing Voters,” written by The Editorial Board, the topic of felon disenfranchisement is brought up and has been a major issue in the first few days of the new year. Majority believe Felon Disenfranchisement is “...a destructive, pointless policy...” that hurts not only the people not allowed to vote, but the American democracy itself. Another topic in this discussion is the restoration of rights for those who have served their time. Correspondingly, many elected representatives are fighting to have this policy revoked and to give the right to vote back to many people. However, other representatives such as governor Rick Scott, made some biased decisions. For example, a man who was charged with manslaughter due to drunk driving was pleading with Scott about gaining back his rights, but the governor didn’t give him the time of day because that was how his uncle died. Many have explicitly stated that this policy is absurd. The right to vote should be given to everyone and only be withheld under extreme circumstances. The restoration of rights shouldn’t depend on the whims of the governor. In like manner, the governor is no friend to voting rights, and lawmakers have limited power when it comes to constitutional amendments. For this reason, Florida’s voters need to step up and help restore the most fundamental constitutional right to more than a million of their fellow citizens.
Over the past twenty years, states across this country have made significant progress scaling back defunct laws that collectively denying voting rights to millions of American citizens with criminal convictions. Unlike Florida, the state has a nearly two-hundred-year-old law that bans people from voting for life if they have a conviction.
Krisberg, B. A. & Temin, C. E. (2001). The plight of children whose parents are in prison. National Council on Crime Delinquency. Available:F:USERSEveryoneWEBSITE ARTICLESChildren of Incarcerated Parents Newsletter.wpd
In a family that faces poverty, the children are exposed to levels of stress that interfere with the development of their brain as to a higher-SES family whose children are exposed to less, infrequent amounts of stress. This stress can not only hinder the development of their brain, but imprint physiological issues at a very young age. These children tend to have a lesser developed prefrontal cortex studies show per Jensen. When the prefrontal cortex is delayed, this creates an educational gap, leaving the child behind in school. The prefrontal cortex is developed through learning-based experience as the child grows (Ormrod, 2015). Because poverty based families are less likely to educate their children at home usually due to the parents being uneducated, resulting in less exposure to literature, numbers, and cognition skills as to a higher-SES family. Jensen includes that only 36% of low SES parents read to their kindergartners, compared to 62% in the highest SES students. In addition, parents of lower-SES households tend to be dual-income or single parent families who have limited time and energy at home to devote to meaningful engagement with their children (Jensen,
Poverty increases a child’s vulnerability to both biological and psychological risks that can highly affect their developmental opportunities. As researches and statistics show, children in low-income neighborhoods are more likely to experience behavioral problems that negatively impact their cognitive development and mental health problems than children in affluent families.
Employment statistics reveal a fundamental part of a nation’s financial health, as stated in a report authored by the Charitable Pew Trust. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for the first trimester of the year 2016 in the United States is at 4.9%. These percentages do not include the incarcerated population, which is 1.5 million people as of 2014, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. For this reason, the authors of Collateral Costs agree that the yearly unemployment rates result in an incomplete picture. Collateral Costs explains that besides encountering employment discrimination due to the criminal records stigma, formerly incarcerated individuals also confront a competitive market because sentence time reduces possible work experience opportunities. Consequently, the report by the Charitable Pew Trust reveals that post-incarceration workers reduce their earnings by 52%, 44%, and 41%, for White, Black and Hispanic populations respectively. Not to mention, 1 in every 8 incarcerated prisoner does not have a high school education or equivalent, which impacts his or her labor prospects, according to the same report. It is appropriate to highlight that the Justice Policy Center (2008) affirmed that employment reduces a former prisoner’s likelihood of re-offending. But granted these circumstances, it is almost unattainable for formerly incarcerated individuals
Dunec, Joanne L. "Incarceration and Recidivism: Lessons from Abroad." Pell Center for International Relations. Salve Regina University. Salve Regina University, Mar. 2014. Web. 01 Oct. 2014.
Meltzer, Milton. In Their Own Words: A History of the American Negro 1916-1966. New York; Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1967. Print.