Should Felons be permitted to vote??
@sweetaprillynn (207)
United States
September 6, 2011 6:56pm CST
Some states are denying felons their right to vote. Each state in the United States determines their own laws regarding felon voting. What are your feelings on the subject??
Should all felons be denied their right to vote? Should it depend on the crime they committed? For example, should non-violent offenders be denied the same as violent offenders? What are your thoughts??
My first instinct is to say that felons should not be permitted to vote. After all, if they are unable to make good decisions for their own lives, how can we depend on their decision making abilities. On the other hand, people make stupid mistakes. I'm not justifying felonious activity what so ever. But I may be leaning toward the feeling that a person deserves a second chance....
2 people like this
5 responses
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
8 Sep 11
Exatly. I have to agree with you on this too. I do not think they deserve the right to vote. They already proved they do not make wise decisions.
@grandpa_lash (5225)
• Australia
7 Sep 11
As someone who considers representative democracy to be a farce, it would hardly matter who voted or didn't vote. But in the context of the world as it is, I would think that anyone not currently serving a sentence or on parole should be entitled to waste his vote the same as the rest of us.
Lash
@megamatt (14291)
• United States
7 Sep 11
Well some of them run for office, even they have never been caught and convicted....but I digress. Anyway, it really depends on the crime. And how long ago the crime has occurred. I mean, if someone did a crime twenty or thirty years ago and have not made a peep or crossed one toe over the line since that time. Is it really fair to punish them? I really do not think so.
Of course it is a touchy subject for many. It is hard to draw the line between stupid mistakes and how long after a stupid mistake can be forgiven. Not to mention after a stupid mistake could be given. I think that there needs to be some kind of criteria established, but that would be a tricky issue as well. It is a mind boggling one.
@holesworth (220)
• Australia
7 Sep 11
If someone has served their time, then I feel that they are more than entitled to the right to vote. After all, they are still required to pay taxes, etc., which is often determined by who's voted - or not voted - in.
If imprisonment is the punishment for wrongdoing, then why should a basic right such as voting be removed once that punishment has been carried out? If the whole idea of jail is that it reforms people, then what does it say when servitute is imposed beyond that?
I feel that there are enough limitations placed upon people who have committed crimes; and with good reason in many cases. But voting should not be prohibited; particularly when it is not compulsory in the first place.
