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socrateez
Stoned Philosopher
Joined: 01 Feb 2008
Posts: 1225
Location: I'm the person to your right.
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 Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 11:10 pm Post subject: FELONY DISENFRANCHISEMENT LAWS IN THE UNITED STATES |
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http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:hgruBs7sLaEJ:www.sentencingproject.org/pdfs/1046.pdf+what+rights+are+lost+when+convicted+of+a+felony&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a
State Disenfranchisement Laws
• 48 states and the District of Columbia prohibit inmates from voting while incarcerated for a felony
offense.
• Only two states - Maine and Vermont - permit inmates to vote.
• 35 states prohibit felons from voting while they are on parole and 30 of these states exclude felony
probationers as well.
• Two states deny the right to vote to all ex-offenders who have completed their sentences. Nine others
disenfranchise certain categories of ex-offenders and/or permit application for restoration of rights for
specified offenses after a waiting period (e.g., five years in Delaware and Wyoming, and two years in
Nebraska).
• Each state has developed its own process of restoring voting rights to ex-offenders but most of these
restoration processes are so cumbersome that few ex-offenders are able to take advantage of them.
Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement
• An estimated 5.3 million Americans, or one in forty-one adults, have currently or permanently lost
their voting rights as a result of a felony conviction.
• 1.4 million African American men, or 13% of black men, are disenfranchised, a rate seven times the
national average.
• An estimated 676,730 women are currently ineligible to vote as a result of a felony conviction.
• More than 2 million
1
white Americans (Hispanic and non-Hispanic)
2
are disenfranchised.
• In five states that deny the vote to ex-offenders, one in four black men is permanently
disenfranchised.
• Given current rates of incarceration, three in ten of the next generation of black men can expect to be
disenfranchised at some point in their lifetime. In states that disenfranchise ex-offenders, as many as
40% of black men may permanently lose their right to vote.
• 2.1 million disenfranchised persons are ex-offenders who have completed their sentences. The state of
Florida had an estimated 960,000 ex-felons who were unable to vote in the 2004 presidential election. |
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