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Prisoner rights to vote essay
Rights that are given to prisoners
Prisoner rights to vote essay
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The amendments prohibited all prisoners who were serving a sentence of imprisonment for a commonwealth, state or territory offence from voting in federal elections. Before
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.
I believe that everyone deserves to have a say in any situation. In these types of scenarios, everyone is not treated equal. In the article one person says” I don’t see where having multiple votes is going to change that or impact that,”(Pg.2.Par.5) This is one example that i believe with. Having more people vote would not harm the system that they already have.
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.
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.
The argument for compulsory voting is basically undemocratic because the first amendment talks about how you have freedom. The freedom of choice must include the freedom not to choose. Democracy deeply values individual freedom which means if compulsory voting was mandatory, It is a clear violation of liberty and the first amendment. I argue that voting should not be mandatory in America because first, non-voters are uninformed, it doesn’t improve the democratic climate, and it requires a national database. American is one of the most powerful and big countries in the world.
An inmate’s most important right is to have access to the courts and without that right they “have neither a forum in which to question the conditions and constitutionality of their confinement, nor an arena in which to seek vindication of other alleged rights violations” (Hinckley, 1987, p. 19). So, the foundation of other prisoners’ rights are based this right of access (Hinckley, 1987). Bounds v Smith is a very good example of where inmate fought to ensure this assess. It all began in North Carolina where inmates filed three actions alleging their 14th Amendment right were violated because of denial of access of legal help and research (Bounds v. Smith, 1977).
Felon Disenfranchisement: Is it Constitutional and Should Felons Be Allowed to Vote? Felon disenfranchisement is defined as, “Any convicted felon currently incarcerated or ex-felon now on parole or probation who cannot vote. ”(Brooks, 2005). There are nearly 5.3 million Americans who have been barred from voting due to criminal conviction (Okechukwu, 2022). This is important to consider because the United States is unlike any other democratic country in the world by doing this.
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
This is deeply rooted in the Jim Crow Laws. When citizens are released from prison, at some point they have to re-engage in their community and by not allowing them to vote these states are not allowing that. It is almost like they are still in prison. The prisoners that are released are still considered an United States Citizen and should be treated as if they never were charged of those
For one, americas constitutional ideals support the right of prisoners to vote, and denying it violates the concept of
The 26th amendment states “The right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age.” My opinion on the 26 amendment is that the voting age should be lowered to 16 instead of 18. I also believe the 2nd amendment should be change which also expresses “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Changing the 26th amendment could gradually increase society being safer. I feel the 26th amendment should be change because people of teenage years seem to know just as much about politics as much as older people.
Prisoner’s Rights go back many years ago and prisoners fought for quite some time for equality. Men were granted certain rights and fought to expand those rights while women fought to have rights. “OMETHING HAPPENED TO THE PRISONERS' RIGHTS MOVEMENT FROM 1975 TO THE 1990S; Women happened” (Barry, 2000). There were many court cases that contributed to rights being granted. “One early state case, Barefield v. Leach (1974), demonstrated that the opportunities and programs for female inmates were clearly inferior to those for male inmates” (Schmalleger & Smykia, 2015, p. 377).
Is it right for an individual who has committed a violent crime to be able participate in voting? A felon should not have the right to vote because, they have displayed dishonesty and irresponsibility by committing a serious crime. Felons have questionable judgment when making decisions. Felons who are still incarcerated are not in the right mindset to make decisions for the public’s good interest. Further, there is no way of telling whether the felon has in fact improved in character since serving time.
Most of us find it difficult to define what happiness is but we can recognise it when we feel it. Likewise we can immediately identify unhappiness when it is felt. There are widely debated issues around happiness over the past decades as philosophers struggle to analyse what it means and how to define it (Warr & Clapperton 2010).The advance of positive psychology in recent years has drawn attention to happiness and other positive states rather than previous studies which focused on illness, depression and other negative outcomes and experiences (Fisher 2010). Happiness, in the form of joy, surfaces in every category of ‘basic’ human emotion and feeling happy is essential to human experience (Diener 1996). The purpose of this essay is to show