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Eric Holder makes case for felons to get voting rights back - The Washington Post
feb 12, 2014
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday called on states to repeal laws that prohibit felons from voting after their release from prison, urging changes that could allow millions more across the country to cast ballots.
Holder said that current laws forbidding felons from voting make it harder for them to reintegrate into society. He pointed to a recent study that showed that felons in Florida who were granted the right to vote again had a lower recidivism rate.
These restrictions are not only unnecessary and unjust, they are also counterproductive, Holder said. By perpetuating the stigma and isolation imposed on formerly incarcerated individuals, these laws increase the likelihood they will commit future crimes.
The attorney general said that after the Civil War, laws that prohibit felons from voting were a way for post-Reconstruction states to keep blacks from casting ballots. Today, an estimated 5.8 million Americans are not allowed to vote because of current or previous felony convictions. Of those, nearly 38 percent are black.
The Justice Department said that 23 states since 1997 have enacted voting rights overhauls. They include Nebraska, Nevada, Texas and Washington state.
In Virginia, former governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) enacted a policy last year that allowed those with non-violent felony convictions to have their voting rights automatically restored. But critics say the effort still leaves many disenfranchised.
The Justice Department said that 11 states, including Florida and Kentucky, restrict voting rights for felons. Holder said that 10 percent of Floridas population is disenfranchised.
Where/when did he demand it?
Felons might (in some cases) deserve to be able to reclaim a right to vote.
Felons might (in some cases) deserve to be able to reclaim a right to vote.
I'd say in most cases. You obviously don't even know what a felony is and think "it's like murder or rape, dood". No - more likely it's just drug possession. The legal definition of a felony is crime where the maximum possible penalty is a year or more.!!! That's a very low bar.
Where/when did he demand it?
Where/when did he demand it?
Have someone read you the article. You're welcome.
Felons might (in some cases) deserve to be able to reclaim a right to vote.
I'd say in most cases. You obviously don't even know what a felony is and think "it's like murder or rape, dood". No - more likely it's just drug possession. The legal definition of a felony is crime where the maximum possible penalty is a year or more.!!! That's a very low bar.
You don't know me or what I know. Your ignorant assumption makes you come across as quite foolish.
And I also don't think being a felon for mere drug POSSESSION is as common as you ignorantly assume. Not that that pointless had anything to do with anything I had said, anyway, you drip.
In any case, the deprivation of a right to vote as an additional lawful consequence of a felony conviction has some merit behind it. Nevertheless, there are, undoubtedly, SOME cases which would warrant consideration for a restoration of that right once the prison term is finished and once any subsequent parole/probation or post-release supervision period is completed.
Felons, drug users, sexual freakazoids and illegal aliens are the democrat party base.
If they can't vote they shouldn't have to pay taxes either.
No taxation without representation.
