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Disenfranchisement Vs Street Crime

266 Words2 Pages
Not only are the outcomes of these felon disenfranchisement laws racist, but they are also classist. It is not news to many that the criminal justice system of the U.S. has many loopholes for rich people to pay their way out of jail time. The wealthy can afford top lawyers, pay bail, pay fines, and live in neighborhoods less frequently patrolled by the police. Defense lawyers for felony crimes can cost anywhere from $1000 to $2500 a day, and bail and fines are not on a sliding scale based off of income (NOLO, 2010). For an impoverished individual making only $1500 a month, the financial obstacles to fighting a winnable court case make conviction nearly inevitable. To contribute to the financial advantage the rich have, the wealthy generally commit more white collar crimes than street crimes, which are treated as lesser in the overall criminal justice system. Street crimes are far more visible than white collar crimes and those charged with street crimes are more likely to face justice than those charged with white collar crimes (Martinez, 2014).
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Without a serious punishment, these people are more likely to repeat their crimes. Heather Kramer and Otis Newton, who write for the Lakeside Publishing Group, believe that disenfranchisement is a necessary measure against convicted felons, as these criminals have failed to comply with the very document that provides them with many freedoms. This article hopes to attract the attention of the general

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Felon disenfranchisement is not only unconstitutional but also further institutionalizes racism. For example, in communities consisting of minorities like African Americans and Hispanics felony disenfranchisement unlawfully create a disadvantage for freedom of speech. As stated by Eric H. Holder, JD a US Attorney General “although well over a century has passed since post-Reconstruction …the impact of felony disenfranchisement on modern communities of color remains both disproportionate and unacceptable.” The act of taking away someone’s right to vote notably mirrors the act of forbidding African Americans to vote during the post-Reconstruction Era. Holder refers to the fact that taking away the right to vote essentially withdraws any opinions that minorities

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Fellow American citizens already copiously penalize felons in everyday life; they look down on them in society, restrict them from large amounts of jobs, and allow their past blunders to haunt them. Therefore, felons’ debt to society has not only been paid for by their prison sentence, but it has also been paid for by their tedious lifestyle. This leads to enfranchisement advocates pondering why The United States continues to punish felons and restrict them from the highest esteem of American culture, especially when they may have ended up with their doomed fate through a vacuous mistake. To further support their point that disenfranchisement fosters an overly severe punishment for felons, supporters of felon voting rights point out the fact that, “in 13 states a felony conviction can result in disenfranchisement, generally for life, even after an offender has completed his or her sentence” (Mauer 3). Champions of felon voting rights disagree with the continual reprimanding of felons after their sentence, as it exceeds their obligations to

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A viewpoint when it comes to the major controversy of felon rights is often an biased opinion that originates from people as well as parents all alike and it is the argument that they as lawful citizens do not want violent offenders such as rapist, domestic offenders, and killers to be involved in voting whatsoever for the fact that these votes are ultimately determining what 's right or wrong for their country. The aspect that is often ignored and or unrealised in this situation is that violent offenders make up only a portion of those who get charged with felony offenses. According to statistics out of a list of twenty offenses that you can get charged as a felon for, violent crimes lies eighth on the list and even more substantial domestic violence and child abuse falls seventeenth on the list. So is it right to view all offenders the same way and hold limits on all as if they were exactly alike? Peter Dimond, an American economist, criticizes the system of economics that surrounds felons when he claims in the article “Should felons have the right to vote?” that to proceed from this issue “First, we need to recognize that felons aren’t necessarily villains – some may be victims themselves of an unfair judicial system, and even those that aren’t – those that have committed crimes deserving of felon status – should have their voices heard.

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The political debate for and against felon disenfranchisement has compelling arguments on both sides. In the US, over 6 million felons are barred from voting due to laws that prevent felons with a sentence to vote (Chung). The number of imprisoned has been growing over the past 40 years, as the increasing number of imprisoned felons is directly correlated with an increasing number of disenfranchised felons. However, a more jarring statistic reveals that most disenfranchised felons in the United States are of a racial or ethnic minority. Based on information from the 2010 US Census Bureau, about 36 percent of disenfranchised felons are African American.

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