Currently one in forty-one Americans
have lost their voting
rights because of a criminal conviction. That is over 5
million people
who are denied the right to vote. Of those, over 2 million
have completed
their sentence of imprisonment, parole, or probation. These
statistics
are even more staggering in an international perspective.
While the US
has only 5% of the world's population, it has almost 50% of those who
are
prevented from voting by a criminal conviction. This is the
product both
of our broad disenfranchisement rules and our exploded criminal justice
system. The racial and ethnic inequity of felon
disenfranchisement is
striking. One in eight black men are disenfranchised by these
laws, a
rate seven times the national average. In some states it is
one in four.
Over 60% of
Americans support restoring the right to
vote after release from prison, and a similar number think that the
right to
vote is an important factor in a person's successful reintegration
after
prison. This view is shared by several law
enforcement
organizations. The American Correctional
Association, made up largely of professionals in
the criminal
justice field, has passed a resolution
stating
that restoring voting rights is critical to reintegration of
ex-prisoners into
public life: “[D]isenfranchisement laws work against the
successful reentry of
offenders as responsible, productive citizens into the
community.”
The Sentencing Project –
Felony
Disenfranchisement
Brennan Center for Justice –
Voting
After Criminal Conviction
ACLU –
Felon
Enfranchisement
Christopher
Uggen and Jeff Manza –
Locked
Out: Felon Disenfranchisement
and American Democracy
