ipl-logo

Convicted Felons Essay

1128 Words5 Pages

Should Convicted Felons be Entitled to More Rights?

Everyday thousands of individuals are incarcerated into the United States prison system. As soon as these jailed individuals start their term, they give up multiple rights they had prior to being convicted. Each convicted felon is treated the same regardless of the crime they committed and lose the same amount of rights. The amount of constitutional rights taken away from convicted felons should depend on the severity of their crime. Some may argue that all are seen equal under the eyes of the law and a criminal is a criminal. However, a person imprisoned for money laundering shouldn’t lose the same amount of rights as a serial killer. Many people make mistakes …show more content…

It’s understandable for rights such as jury service to be revoked since a former felon may be biased while deciding or may feel uncomfortable taking part in putting someone in prison. However, the right to travel abroad being taken away is excessive and is an example of the government having too much influence in the everyday lives of their citizens. For example, if a person convicted of a nonviolent felon has completed their sentence, there should be no restriction on them wanting to take a vacation. Felons still have the right to carry and obtain visas and passports, but if they are restricted traveling then there isn’t a point for them to even own one. Also, many former felons want to restart their life and try and salvage and make the most of their lives prior to being incarcerated. Who gave the government the authority to take away a luxury such as the pleasure of relaxation and enjoyment that is a vacation? Similarly, it’s also unjust that a former felon is disenfranchised. States such as Alabama, Florida, and Iowa permanently take away the right to vote to all felons and ex-felons (Felon Voting Rights). Yet, they live in the country and participate in daily activities with the rest …show more content…

The prison system itself is corrupted and unfair to those individuals in it. Even though there are reform programs within the prisons, many prisoners return to prison due to inconsistent follow ups and the absence of these programs outside of prison. This creates high recidivism rates because they have a place to sleep and guaranteed meals and outside of prison it’s harder from them to have access to all of that. Elliot Currie states, “As we have crammed more and more offenders into prison, we have simultaneously retreated from the already minimal commitment to help them reenter productive society.” When the Eastern State Penitentiary was first opened in 1829, its main focus was to rehabilitate prisoners so they could reenter society (Eastern State Penitentiary). Now, overcrowding is a major issue in the United States prison system. According to the FBI Releases Preliminary Semiannual Crime Statistics for 2015, the most common crime was possession drug crimes, followed by property crimes. This shows that majority of those incarcerated in prison are there for nonviolent crimes. The government should change their drug law policies and instead of doing prison time, be forced to pay a hefty fine. This way, it can reduce jail and prison populations and thereby reducing recidivism

Show More
Related
738 Words | 3 Pages

In our nation, when you are accused of a crime you go to jail. At the jail, you are given an amount of money you have to pay to get out of prison at your hearing, this is called a Bond. Bonds ensure that you go to court. If you pay all of the bond money up front and then go to court like you should, you get all of your money back. But people don’t usually have thousands of dollars to pay for Bonds.

Read More
389 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
1612 Words | 7 Pages

“I think the biggest potential impact [of restoring felons’ voting rights] would be changes to the individuals who are elected,-said Bridgett King, a government professor at Auburn University,- You might then see a reversal in the number of state legislatures that are implementing policies to limit options for women’s reproductive

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That 's institutionalized.’ A prison should aim at retribution, incapacitation, deterrence and rehabilitation. I am very well convinced that prison has served its first three purposes by depriving offenders’ freedom, but the

Read More
618 Words | 3 Pages

A recently released felon making the right moves then we are denying them the very basic human right to vote. In 2010, out of the voting population, 2.5% were denied the right to vote because of a previous felony conviction. In recent years, 28 states have passed laws that allow convicted felons to vote but only once they have completed their sentence and anything that was given to do upon being released from prison. Once released, this means that they have worked off the punishment that

Read More
1417 Words | 6 Pages

The large percentage also puts a different scope on felon disenfranchisement laws as these

Read More
1163 Words | 5 Pages

Many felons find it hard to reintegrate themselves back into the population if they are denied their right to vote (Sigler, 2014, p. 1738) Many felons are willing to reintegrate themselves back into society, and many are willing to do so by voting. Allowing them to vote is allowing them to feel like they are apart of society again, and not another class of people that are not allowed to speak their minds and have their voices heard. In fact, an experiment that took place showed that the voting from pre-incarceration to post-incarceration increased by four percent for previously convicted felons (Gerber et al., 2015, p. 924). This shows that convicts are willing to vote, wanting to vote, and feel the need to have their voting rights restored to fully reintegrate themselves back into society like many want them

Read More
924 Words | 4 Pages

People aren’t ready to forgive felons for what they have done in the past and believe they shouldn’t be given their rights back. If there exists a way for a former felon to regain their rights in some states they should at least allow clemency in every state that disenfranchises felons. If clemency exists than someone out there sees that some felons deserve to regain their rights and if they don’t deserve it they would probably end up in jail again, so former felons should be given their rights back after some sort of process to check whether they are actually ready to regain their rights. This process should be mandatory after serving your jail time so that you can easily regain your rights without having to go through the rough process of

Read More
1728 Words | 7 Pages

The current system that incarcerates people over and over is unsustainable and does not lower the crime rate nor encourage prisoner reformation. When non-violent, first time offenders are incarcerated alongside violent repeat offenders, their chance of recidivating can be drastically altered by their experience in prison. Alternative sentencing for non-violent drug offenders could alleviate this problem, but many current laws hinder many possible solutions. Recently lawmakers have made attempts to lower the recidivism rates in America, for example the Second Chance Act helps aid prisoners returning into society after incarceration. The act allows states to appropriate money to communities to help provide services such as education, drug treatment programs, mental health programs, job corps services, and others to aid in offenders returning to society after incarceration (Conyers, 2013).

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

In 1972, former President Richard Nixon made his infamous statements regarding crime and drug abuse. In this speech, he declared a war on crime and drugs and intended to decrease the number of people using drugs and the amount of crimes that were committed. Since this declaration, incarceration rates in the U.S. have gone up by 500%, even though the amount of crime happening has gone down. One of the reasons why I feel our rates have risen, is because sometimes, we put people in jail when they don’t need to be there in the first place.

Read More
479 Words | 2 Pages

The judgment of those who have committed serious crimes is not only arguable but untrustworthy. The right to vote should not return to felons upon completing their sentence because, there is no way of knowing if the individual has since improved their character. Ex cons should have to go a certain amount time without committing any sort of crime before voting rights are restored. While some may feel not permitting felons to vote goes against the eighth amendment, not allowing them to vote is in the people’s best

Read More
196 Words | 1 Pages

During a trial proof beyond a reasonable doubt must be proven. However, if a defendant pleads guilty conviction happens, without the chance of a trial, making an exoneration almost impossible. Time that is spent behind bars is considered a punishment for the crime that has been committed. Adversely deprivation of rights, support from family, and loss of the freedom that once taken for granted become a common occurrence. Limitations such as these are considered a “just desserts” for individuals that have committed a crime, but what about those incarcerated who have not committed a crime?

Read More
1359 Words | 6 Pages

The inmate population in prisons is ever so growing. In society, different parties and groups are uncovering flaws in our country, and one of them is how prisoners do not have the right to vote. Even though prisoners are held behind gates, fences, and bars, they are still citizens and are protected by the constitution. But do all the amendments and articles still apply to the inmates? This little wrinkle causes controversy on whether or not prisoners deserve the right to vote.

Read More
2096 Words | 9 Pages

Should Prison Records Be Expunged After Sentence is Served? When considering expunging a prisoner’s record there should be an abundance of factors that follows the final decision of whether or not to expunge a criminal record. Factors included should be what crime the prisoner committed, whether the person shows true remorse for the crime they committed, and if the benefits outweigh the risk of expunging their record. Criminals with lower level offenses have better chances of getting their records.

Read More

More about Convicted Felons Essay

Related Topics

Open Document