Should Ex-Convicts Be Considered U.S. Citizens?
Now there is nothing written expressly in the U.S. Constitution that states because a person commits a felony or criminal offense that their voting privileges are forever suspended.
Once again the ever famous XIV amendment section 1 states,
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Now notice it says absolutely nothing about if you are convicted of a felony you cannot vote. Nor for that matter does it say while one is incarcerated they cannot vote either.
As long as the con was born or naturalized within the US, they are still US citizens. "No state shall make or abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States". Based on that one sentence, any state law that prohibits its citizens while incarcerated or after their release has no authority to deny them the right to vote.
Obviously many state laws are conflicting with this idea.
But lets look past that point for a moment. Say you don't want prisoners and ex cons to vote because obviously they are going to have a lot to say about prison reforms. And by last count when 1 in 136 Americans is locked up, thats a lot of floating political currency which is cheap. Then of course if they are still regarded as citizens you would have to pay them minimum wage as well, the one's who are working anyway. So you cant pay them thirty cents per day anymore. And if they wanted to form a union of prisoner workers they could under the Constitution. Maybe this is taking this to a high degree,but its completely plausible.
But the logical point that comes into play is, if I have paid my debt back to society and I am released from prison assuming that while in prison I surrender my rights temporarily as it being a punishment of prison.
Then why are my rights not reinstated if according to the law I served my time?
It makes no rational sense whatsoever. It is complete madness. It can be viewed as racist, but its not consistent at all. Say you are an ex-con,you are released, did your time. You now have a job and pay taxes but you cannot vote or run for office. Why are you then paying taxes when you cannot be represented?
Or better yet say we get those public financed campaigns and they are paying taxes into their representation most directly. What then you are still going to tell them?
Are you going to give them a refund check for their percentage of taxes they paid that went to the candidates? NO.
This logical inconsistency has to be balanced far before we get to publicly financed campaigns.
It is my thought in the end it comes down to one fundamental question...
Either you are never a citizen again even after you have been locked up and "paid your debt" back to society, or you are now once again a citizen with full privileges?
Do note the problem with a fundamental question, is that more often that not there is more than one fundamental answer.
Published by Andre Smith Jr
An avid grassroots journalist.An excellent researcher and a gifted writer. View profile
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8 Comments
Post a CommentAndre, can you elaborate on the reinstatement process? I'd like to know.
But the reinstatement process is not as easy as you make it sound, and once again the point still remains if they have "paid their debt" all rights should be reinstated not just a few or select, if thats the case the people themselves should only have an right to a few of the rights..
I believe the government looks at it like this: How can someone who is not regularly available to free living society understand what's going on outside? For example, how can a prisoner who only deals with a certain group of people in prison understand the issues with immigration or minimum wage or abortion or even see the presidential campaign? It's like traveling to a new city and someone asks you to sign a petition to build a building and you haven't been around to see the pros and cons of it being built. With that said, prisoners are forced to learn MUCH more about the legal system so whereas people who do not come into encounters with legal issues that political activists speak about may not be as well-versed in it, ex-convicts or present convicts do. There are some pros and some cons of them voting, but in essence, once out, they're citizens and regain their rights. So yes, I think they should be able to vote immediately.
the only subject I've heard of pertaining to this is re: voting... I don't know if it differs from state to state, but here an ex-convict can petition to regain his ability to vote if he wishes to do so
One of the greatest strenghs of American society is the fact that it allows people who have fallen to rise again. Obviously the media prefers to hype up stories about how "Liberal" prison laws allowed a fellon on parolle to go out and kill again. But lets look at the other end of the coin. You had people like Michael Milken who went to jail for large scale fraud. But when they were released they managed to rise money for good causes. Stripping ex-convicts of their citizenship is cruel, unusual and most importantly unAmerican.
I can't say I've ever heard anyone argue that ex-cons shouldn't be considered citizens. Has anyone? Seems like a no-brainer.
This is a thought provoking article that really made me think, and I guess that I believe that once your time has been served your punishment should be considered completed, including getting your full rights back as a citizen. It would be like grounding a child from their things, but once off being grounded you still don't allow them access to the things they enjoyed before being punished. Who better then an exconvict to talk about prison reform. After all, they were up close and personal to the issues that involve prisons and the treatment that goes on in the big house. Not all people put behind bars are violent offenders, and not all of them are guilty of the crime they were sentenced for. DNA has been proving that the wrong man can indeed be sentenced for something he had no clue about, unfortunately the system takes awhile to weed out the good guys from the bad, and DNA has only been on the scene since 1986.
I agree; ex-inmates should be able to vote. I have yet to hear a logical explanation for why these votes have been taken away, and feel it's racist (as are the sentencing and conviction racial disparities). I think it's ironic that many people don't care about prison reform even when they're footing the bill for new prisons to house nonviolent offenders, and the people who do care can't vote.