Should Felons Be Allowed To Vote Essay

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Pages: 4

According to theatlantic.com it states that only ¨ Nearly 6 million people in 48 states—2.5 percent of the adult population—are currently ineligible to vote because of a prior conviction. Two-thirds of them have completed their prison terms, including two million people in 35 states who are prevented from voting while on probation or parole, and two million more in 12 states who continue to be disenfranchised once they have served out their sentence in full.¨ There has been a dispute on whether ex-felons should be allowed the right to vote since around ancient Greece and Rome. There should not even be a dispute because despite your past criminal offenses, it should not have an affect on your right to vote.
Disenfranchisement for felons was adopted throughout Europe and they referred to it as ¨Civil Death.¨ Disenfranchise was not the only right ex-felons lost back in those days; they also lost rights including the right to own property and the right to enter into contracts. English colonists carried over this idea when they came over to America. A few of the rights they had lost were dropped but disenfranchisement was not and continued throughout the 19th and 20th century for most states.

Being able to restore your rights after serving your time for
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On newsmax.com it lists a few different reasons. The first reason is the person forfeited their right to vote when they showed dishonesty and irresponsibility in their character by committing a crime. In addition to that, it says those who have shown or committed serious crimes cannot be trusted and they have showed untrustworthiness. There are also crimes that are committed that do not just affect one party, but include actions to the entire society. The ex-felon may not lose their rights forever but they should demonstrate that they are willing to abide by the law for a certain amount of time before they are allowed to vote