Essay On Criminal Disenfranchisement

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6 Million Unheard Voices
Each year, over 6 million Americans are forbidden to vote by state governments (Gonchar, Michael). Even after criminals have served their time for the felonies they committed and have been released from bondage, certain states still have laws restraining past criminals from voting. Some of the crimes are major crimes, like murder or sex offenses, but others are petty misdemeanors, including vagrancy or larceny. Criminals of these felonies do not deserve to be punished even after they have served their time, but 48 of the 50 United States have criminal disenfranchisement laws (The Sentencing Project). Despite having committed crimes, felons must be allowed to vote because they are citizens of the United States and have …show more content…
The criminal disenfranchisement law completely contradicts this moral. The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, states that “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”(National Archives). “…Previous condition of servitude,” could be interpreted as imprisonment. Therefore, denying the right to vote based on being formerly imprisoned blatantly goes against the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States asserts that, “No state shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, not deny to any person without jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”(National Archives). Criminal disenfranchisement laws directly deny citizens of life, liberty, and property because it imposes restrictions on criminals, which violate the right to liberty. The right to vote is a privilege of being a citizen of the United States that must be upheld by the government in accordance with the Constitution, or else the work of our founding fathers was all for
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