"If you do the crime, you better be prepared to do the time!"
The "time", of course, meaning prison. That's a common phrase that people spout when criminals are convicted, regardless of how hefty the charge. But when the criminal has done their time and is trying to re-enter society, society often turns its back on them.
Disenfranchisement of convicted felons is a very real thing.
It's also a very SERIOUS thing.
While the percentage of released felons returning to jail is staggering (It's 50% of all released felons), one has to wonder what is contributing to this.
If a felon gets out of prison and is rehabilitated, I do not think they should be deprived of any kind of rights. Disenfranchisement is a continuation of imprisonment in my opinion. They aren't allowed to vote, finding a job is harder, finding housing is harder, being a productive citizen is harder. They are continually being punished for the crimes they committed even though they have served their time. That's not fair.
Now, I won't say that ALL felons should have their rights restored. Some of these people in there are real monsters, preying on children, raping people, murdering them. I think that, for violent things like that, there really isn't a rehabilitation process because this is something that is mentally or neurologically flawed with that person.
But the people who are convicted for things like drugs should absolutely have their rights restored.
Lumping all the "good" felons in with all the "bad" felons is a ridiculous thing to do. It's morally wrong as well, in my opinion.
I also think there should be programs offered to help these people return to life on the outside. I know they offer some education classes, but do they teach them the basic life skills they might have forgotten after being in prison? Probably not.
I don't have all the answers, by any means. And I don't know a lot about this because most of the felons I know are family who have figured out a way to make it in life. But I do see their struggle.
My mother used to tell me that everyone is redeemable. I believe that (to an extent. I'm sorry, but crimes against children, rapists, etc...they aren't redeemable...*shrug*). Even felons are redeemable. So let's help them be redeemed.
Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This month 5 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.
My subject was "Disenfranchisement for convicted felons: Yay of Nay?" and it was submitted by my good friend Tamara from Part-time Working Hockey Mom.
Grab a cup and read on by clicking the links below!
I agree with the majority of what you say. If people are in prison, they have lost many of their rights during that time and I agree with that. If people have served their sentence, I believe that not only should their rights be restored, but we need to come up with programs geared towards them having the ability to succeed and build a decent life. I also think that certain crimes should require never getting out of prison, make the restoration of rights to that level of criminal a mute point.
ReplyDeleteOkay, this is so spooky! My husband and I just had this conversation over the weekend! I don't talk about it often, but I"m going to for this. In 1986, my husband (way before I met him) broken into someone's house and stole things with his older brother. He was 17 and already a high school drop out and father. He was sentenced to 5 years even though he had never been in trouble in his life. His parents were no help. He served every single day of that 5 years and he was released in 1991 where two weeks later he met me. We met on a Friday, moved in on a Saturday and next month we will celebrate 30 years happily married. We have raised 3 children, one who served this country in the Marines, one is a pharmacist and one is a stay at home mom. He has saved at least 4 lives that I can count. Literally saved them from drownings, car accidents, fires etc. He has never been in trouble a single time in those 30 years other than a couple speeding tickets. Even through all of that he cannot vote in our elections, he can have a gun to protect his family in an emergency, he had a very hard time finding employment and ended up starting his own business. As you can see I am very passionate about this subject!
ReplyDeleteI just recently learned about this. The U.S. justice system is very harsh compared to Switzerland and some other European countries, and I feel at some point society should give felons a break and a chance to do good.
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