Tag Archives: felons

Ex-felons have rights, too

felon-voting-bars-button

Some of the talk along the presidential campaign trail has turned to felons.

Do those who have been convicted of felonies deserve the right to vote? Sure they do … under certain conditions.

It’s becoming a bit of a sore point among many who think that felons must not have their rights of citizenship restored. If they’ve done something egregiously wrong, why, let them pay for the rest of their lives. That’s the mantra.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently granted ex-felons the right to vote in that state, much to the consternation of conservatives who argue that, by golly, McAuliffe is a friend and political ally of Democratic nominee-to-be Hillary Rodham Clinton. So, naturally he’d want to grant ex-felons the right to vote.

Former GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz of Texas actually said that those who commit crimes are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. Let’s not paint with too broad a brush, Sen. Cruz.

Texas — of all places! — allows former felons to vote.

Check this out from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office:

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/effects.shtml

If a felon completes all the terms of his or her release from prison — and that includes fulfilling all the parole requirements — then he or she is eligible to register to vote. The restoration of these rights do not extend to those wanting to run for political office.

Honestly, I fail to see why this is a big deal.

A left-leaning website chides the National Rifle Association for opposing the rights of ex-felons to vote while at the same time pushing for the rights of ex-felons to own firearms.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/05/22/3780685/nra-wants-ex-felons-guns-not-voting-rights/

I won’t wade into that snake pit here. Maybe later.

However, the idea behind incarcerating people convicted of committing serious crimes is to force them to “repay their debt to society.” Once they complete a prison sentence and once they complete the terms of their parole — if they’re let out of The Joint early — then they have paid their debt in full. That’s how the judicial system sees it.

This clearly is a state-by-state issue. It need not enter the federal realm.

I’ve been critical in the past of many Texas laws and those who make them here. On this one, though, the Lone Star State got it right.

 

Restore voting rights for felons?

This one is giving me a touch of heartburn.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has come out for a major criminal justice change, which would be to restore voting rights for those who have been convicted of a felony.

http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/criminal-justice-reform-gains-steam

I’ve had trouble with this notion for many years. I long have thought that someone who commits a felony ought to lose his or her right to vote, given that they have committed serious crimes against society. Thus, they have surrendered their right to determine who should govern the society against which they have committed their crime.

Then a certain light bulb came on.

If you sentence someone to prison and that someone serves his or her term, has the prisoner then repaid — in full — a debt to society? Furthermore, if that debt is paid in full, doesn’t the felon have the right to become a full citizen, given that the sentence has been carried out according to the law?

Holder spoke to a Georgetown University Law School crowd when he said: “At worst, these laws, with their disparate impact on minority communities, echo policies enacted during a deeply troubled period in America’s past – a time of post-Civil War discrimination,” Holder said. “And they have their roots in centuries-old conceptions of justice that were too often based on exclusion, animus and fear.”

I’m still wrestling a bit with this one, but my inclination is to allow felons — I do not want to call them “ex-felons,” because the record is permanent — the right to be re-enfranchised in the voting process.

They’ve paid for their crimes. So why not allow them back into society?