Friday, April 29, 2016
Should Ex-Convicts be Allowed to Vote?
After I wrote my last blog post "College Education for Inmates?", I have become increasingly more interested in how felons(and ex-felons) are treated by the government. Did you know, that according to a 2010 study "an estimated 5.85 million people with a felony conviction are barred from voting in elections"? That is outrageous to me, especially considering that those six million people make up "2.5 percent of the adult population" of the United States. Those numbers are from an older study, and one could make an educated guess that this number is most likely much higher now. In most states, felons are disenfranchised from the day they are convicted until they finish serving their time AND have made it through the years of probation and/or parole afterwards(Texas included in this group). There are also four states(Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia) that don't allow people to EVER vote in their lifetime againif they've been convicted of a crime. This, to me, is just another example of how this government gives ex-convicts almost no incentive to be a "normal" citizen after they are released. This especially effects committers of non-violent crimes(which are most convicts), as they are not able to be a part of this "self-governing" system that the United States claims to have. This means that even if they wanted these laws changed, there's no way they could act on it. I believe that the American people need to rise up on this issue and get these laws changed. How can we ever claim that serving a prison sentence is a form of rehabilitation when there is absolutely no effort made to help them achieve normalcy? I feel the best solution for this problem is to assess the person that was convicted when their sentence is done, and reinfranchise people on a case-by-case basis. That way, we can at least improve on that promise that normalcy can be acheived when a felon gets out of prison. Without changing this law and many others that pertain to ex-convicts, the prison system will only continue to be filled with offenders that have no hope in the real world. They will continue to be in and out of prison for the rest of their lives. We MUST act on these laws, to make a better world for convicts that are actually trying to better themselves. What do you think?
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I certainly agree with what the author Alyssa Villalobos Writes about in her Article Should Ex-Convicts be Allowed to Vote? First of all how our we going to expect that our convicts receive new economic opportunities ? When our own Government seems to purposely shut's out their civilian opportunities. Sure, they might of committed crimes in their past, but why should we limit and prohibit them of a new opportunity to establish themselves in this sorrow economy of ours.
ReplyDeleteIf America claims to want an overall better economic opportunity for its citizens. We should begin with those unfortunate convicts who have it a bit tough, when it comes down for them coming back to The Real World. I certainly believe that if our Government were to establish more opportunities for convicts, then our economy would increase in a positive manner. Specifically speaking on our economy I would like to emphasize the fact that if our Government spends an average of our Tax-paying money on our Prison system, which is 31,286, per inmate. Rather than spending our money on more positive infrastructures. Such as our Educational system and Hospitals etc...
What I mentioned in my previous Paragraph might be completely ignorant on my part, but if our government is only pending 10,658 per student which is obviously far less than what is spent on prisoners. At least in my eyes that alone signifies the negative recidivism that our Government as well as private institutions are purposely doing in harming not only our American Citizens, but the American Economy as well.
As with what Ms. Alyssa Villalobos mentioned in her article " I feel the best solution for this problem is to assess the person that was convicted when their sentence is done, and rein-franchise people on a case-by-case basis. That way, we can at least improve on that promise that normalcy can be achieved when a felon gets out of prison." I would just like to add that if I'm not mistaken, which I probably am because then again I'm certainly not an expert when it comes down to our Mess of a Government/Economy. I believe as it is stated in our constitution in the 5th Amendment "RIGHTS OF PERSONS ACCUSED OF CRIMES." Again this might be more directed towards people actually being arrested, but in my opinion it also relates to Convicts when released from Prison.
Ultimately, I full y agree with The Author Alyssa Villalobos on the issue of convicts being allowed to establish themselves. Although her original question was if convicts should be allow to vote. I slightly got a bit off topic, but still highly agree with her on the issue of a new opportunity for convicts,.