Rights Behind Bars

 RIGHTS BEHIND BARS

By: Saul Dominguez

 Civil Engagement: 

• My look into Civil Engagement is engaging in the community, to help support one another in a variety of skills to help and address civic issues.You probably see the news, media, even social media and see court discussions about liberty restrictions towards felons, and think to yourself, what’s the whole point of letting them free, if their civil rights have been taken away and not restored.

The Problem : 

• Ex-Felons completing their sentences, should have the rights to vote. President Obama stated as he’s one of the first presidents to enter a federal prison, he agrees people do mistakes, as he states the right thing to do is to serve time and once out he stated he believes it’ll “[increase] the possibility that they can turn their lives around” Once felons serve time, if their get rights to vote, something small like that can bring them closer to the community than to be dehumanized.

• Losing civil rights is inhumane to people. S. David Mitchell, JD, Scholar in Residence at the University of Colorado Department of Sociology, stated once that Ex-felons disenfranchisement should be allowed, and could affect their citizenship. Disenfranchisement means the right and privilege to vote, and although many are restricted in many ways post prison, by all means they shouldn’t lose their civil rights since it violates their freedom of speech.

The Solution :

• 
  Proposal 2, a solution in which restore vote rights can be given towards felons, regarding issues, not related to the offense committed. 
  Ex-Felons should be allowed to vote but to a certain extent, they could be given the same voting requirements, but issues that relate to a crime committed by the felon can be restricted.

•  This solution will benefit them, in “Are Felon Disenfranchisement Laws a Form of Racial Discrimination?” The article states, since not allowing ex-felons to vote, it disrespects the rule of law. Importantly this can help strengthen the community and eventually help bring responsibility and a sense of hope towards ex-felons, up lifting their community and importantly themselves.

Personal Antedote:

Growing up in a minority household, we often know someone close to us who's been a felon, or is still serving time. Well for me pe
rsonally, one of my close family members has been a felon, served time and still till this day faces limited rights after many settled court dates. In my community, the number of felons is common especially in Los Angeles, where the majority of my community come from black and brown communities.  First I will talk about Felons having their rights taken away, then the reasoning if they had the ability to vote they’d become biased, and the solution to have felons vote regarding issues that are not related to the offense committed. Going out to my community, i asked neighbors and friends who related or knew a person that was dealing with this situation and was quite surprised how many had similar opinions on restoring voting rights.

Interviews:

Maria Ramirez "They should be able to vote because whatever personal issues they have should be different from personal opinions, one thing shouldn't affect the others. This affects me personally because since i have a daughter that is an ex-felon, and she is limited on most of her rights and one of them being a political issue is what affects her the most, but in the end of the day these are adults with knowing their consequences."

Maria, a mother and grandmother of 3, living in south central, used to the environment in minority groups and her daughter in which she mentions is also affected by the issue.

Summary:

• First I talked about the problem which was having Ex- felons voting rights taken away, then I addressed the caused which If they have the ability to vote, they’d vote but excluding certain issues they were aligned with, and lastly signaled the solution which was restoring voting privileges to ex-convicted felons to vote regarding issues, not related to the offense committed by voting on proposal 2 and bringing awareness towards the issue.

  References:

  “Are Felon Disenfranchisement Laws a Form of Racial Discrimination? - Felon Voting - ProCon.org.” Felon Voting, felonvoting.procon.org/questions/are-felon-disenfranchisement-laws-a-form-of-racial-discrimination/.

  “Jeff Manza.” Jeffrey L Manza, as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/faculty/jeffrey-manza.html.

  “Remarks by the President at the NAACP Conference.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/14/remarks-president-naacp-conference.

  Spakovsky, Hans von. “Ex-Cons Should Prove They Deserve the Right to Vote.” The Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org/election-integrity/commentary/ex-cons-should-prove-they-deserve-the-right-vote.

   Felons and Democratic politicking - Washington Times