ipl-logo

Persuasive Essay Felons

1188 Words5 Pages

Felons Need a Voice
"6.1 million People in the United States (2.5% of the nation's voting age) could not vote due to a felony conviction" (Uggen).That's a pretty big group of the population that isn’t allowed to vote just because they have a felony. People against felons voting have rested on the fact that we put them in jail to keep them out of society, so we shouldn't let them vote. Or because they broke the law, meaning they gave up their right. And even more simply they’ve proven bad judgment; they shouldn’t be able to vote. But what about after they served their time, that’s the end of their crime. They paid their debt to society. "People make mistakes in life. You shouldn't have to live with that for the rest of your life," (McAuliffe). Says Terry …show more content…

Allowing felons to vote, steers us away from continuing to punish them for a crime that they’ve already paid forgives them an opportunity to prove that they can change, and aids …show more content…

When a felon comes home from prison they already have so many challenges to face. "…The largest barriers to building a normal life after prison are trouble finding jobs and housing, along with ongoing legal struggles.”And that’s on top of even more basic challenges, like transportation to work or to see a probation officer."(Lindley).Not only does voting give them normalcy, and a chance to contribute positively to society; It gives them a voice, a positive voice. Voting gives them a chance to make important decisions about the world that we live in. They can’t fully rehabilitate if they aren't living a normal life. People can change, but we have to give them the opportunity to show us, and that’s what having the right to vote does. It says you have served your time and you can live a normal life, you can act like a citizen and not an inmate. We can’t expect them to re integrate positively to society if we don’t give them that basic fundamental

Show More
Related
961 Words | 4 Pages

Instead of facing a punishment, these criminals are treated just like law-abiding citizens. In addition, the authors explain that disenfranchisement rulings “[serve] the same purpose as the other forms of punishment for felonies: to discourage people from committing serious crimes by making them forfeit not only a year or more of their lives in prison, but by excluding them from the body of citizens who make the rules they agree to abide by.” The article explains that people who have committed felonies must be disciplined in order to learn a lesson. Many states that fail to punish released felons have people who may repeat their illegal activities. They may try to test the government and bend the rules.

Read More
97 Words | 1 Pages

This is certainly a conflicting issue. While it is fair to value the welfare of law abiding citizens over the welfare of convicted felons, placing restricting on felons presents the issue of those felons lacking the ability to become a contributing member of society. Like you mentioned, that can provide the push needed for them to return to crime rather than working towards a steady life of their own. Further research into the costs and benefits of such restrictions is necessary to determine whether these types of restrictions actually do benefit society overall like they intend to.

Read More
1015 Words | 5 Pages

United States citizens with a criminal background should be allowed to vote in their state of residency Ontreal Harris Professor Ross Composition II Reference Shaw, Jerry. “When Did Ex-Felons Lose Their Rights to Vote? A History.” Newsmax. Newsmax Media, Inc.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

The removal of this right dehumanizes prisoners. The streets of Texas are filled with blue or white collar criminals on bail or simply waiting for their sentence. Presently, if individual are found guilty of a crime, but they are not given a judicial sentence they are still allowed to vote; why should there be treated differently from convicted criminals who are locked up? However, allowing prisoners to vote while in prison would increase voting turnout and also Texas would gain the reputation of becoming one of the two states that allow prisoners to vote while in prison.

Read More
792 Words | 4 Pages

With having a background already on the idea of what the government interest served by disenfranchising felons. The definition of disenfranchising felons is basically taking away their rights to votes. George Will first starts talking about how people that may have made by chooses when they were younger, have turned it around but since for example, he stated in Florida people that have been convicted have been disgraced because of their past. He uses the example of Desmond Meade that turned his life around trying to paint the picture of someone that was involved in drugs and what not having that one accident or being in a “bummy path of life”. “He is a graduate of Florida International University law school but cannot vote in his home state

Read More
1104 Words | 5 Pages

After leaving prison, a felon is already viewed as not as important as a citizen who has never committed a crime. It can be very difficult to participate and take part in community activities such as getting a job. Felons feel unimportant and unwanted. It is unjust for felons to be treated this way. Several people who have been incarcerated have been interviewed on this topic.

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

A finding from a study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that 67.8 percent of ex-convicts were rearrested. Two-thirds of them spent their time in prison waiting for the release, only to go back into that dirty old cell again. Why don’t they try to get a real job, earn their own living and cherish the second chance we grant them. Let’s step down from the moral high ground for a second. Often released prisoners lack the skills and knowledge to keep up with the pace of society.

Read More
577 Words | 3 Pages

Keeping Criminals Out A major seat in the Louisiana government will be opening when David Vitter’s term as senator ends. Many respectable candidates are preparing to campaign for this seat in the senate; however, undesirable candidates are running for the position. The Republican party of Louisiana has recently attempted to set laws to bar convicted felons from running for the Louisiana senate seat that will be vacant in coming months. David Duke, a member of the Republican party, recently qualified to run for the seat; however, the Republican party of Louisiana does not approve of Duke running for the seat because of his infamous history.

Read More
2205 Words | 9 Pages

Felony disenfranchisement is more than just a burden, it is a perennial matter set in place to cause the regress of participation and rights to Black people in America. As we can see so far, it is statistically proven that 1 of every 13 Blacks unable to vote due to

Read More
376 Words | 2 Pages

Felony disenfranchisement currently affects around 6 million citizens or 2.5% of the voting population. Of those incarcerated, minority groups are grossly overrepresented. This leads to exploitive use of disenfranchisement. Suddenly, significant portions of minority groups are unable to vote.

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

This consequently causes their peers to believe that these people should not be given the trust to vote on such widespread, controversial issues. Now, although the people with these concerns make a valid and alarming point they fail to understand that voting not only helps instill a sense of responsibility within prior-felons lives but it also helps with their rehabilitation process as well, targeting the psychological aspect of helping these men and women succeed. Christopher Uggen, professor of sociology and law at the university of Minnesota asserts in the article “Why should felons vote” that “ if those who argue that people with felony convictions shouldn 't be allowed to vote because they are untrustworthy in character . . . should we exclude admitted racists or, taking that argument even further, perhaps people who

Read More
142 Words | 1 Pages

All felons deserve to have the right to vote because they are still part of this country and this society. Some people have made several mistakes in their lives that they would love to go back in time to fix everything they did that made

Read More
707 Words | 3 Pages

There’s a multitude of things that need to be repaired in our system, and prison is one of them. Prison reform is an important issue because we need to take care of everyone and with the way we treat criminals, we do not see them as equal. We need to assess illegal acts correctly instead of trying to put people in jail for the rest of their lives. We also need to work more on how we try to rehabilitate people. Instead of barring convicts off from the rest of us, we need to teach them how to integrate, so they can live better lives than they did

Read More
479 Words | 2 Pages

First of all, a felon should not be allowed to vote because, their judgement is questionable. A felon is an individual who has committed a serious crime, typically involving violence, and usually serves more than a year in imprisonment. Children and mentally incompetent individuals are not allowed to vote due to their judgement being unquestionable (Shaw, Jerry 2015). A felon’s judgment is just as, if not more problematic. Not only is their judgement questionable, but individuals who commit felonies are typically untrustworthy.

Read More
786 Words | 4 Pages

Ladies and gentlemen, today we are here to discuss an important matter, should prisoners be allowed to vote. This matter is mostly based on opinions but such an important decision cannot be taken lightly. Furthermore, both sides of the argument must be taken into balance before a final decision is taken as this decision may impact the entire future of a country. Monsters that 's what they are.

Read More

More about Persuasive Essay Felons

Related Topics

Open Document