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April 25, 2023
The Sentencing Project releases short report on "Increasing Public Safety by Restoring Voting Rights"
I received via email this morning this eight-page document from The Sentencing Project titled "Increasing Public Safety by Restoring Voting Rights." Here is how the document gets started:
Restoring voting rights for people with felony convictions can improve public safety. Voting is among a range of prosocial behaviors in which justice-impacted persons can partake, like getting a college education, that is associated with reduced criminal conduct. Among Americans with a history of criminal legal system involvement, having the right to vote or the act of voting is related to reduced recidivism. The re-entry process after incarceration improves because restoring voting rights gives citizens the sense that their voice can be heard in the political process, and contributes to building an individual’s positive identity as a community member.
The studies featured in this brief underscore the beneficial impacts of restoring voting rights for all Americans who have been convicted of a felony, whether they are inside or outside of prison.
April 25, 2023 at 04:27 PM | Permalink
Comments
They can call it the, “Get soft on crime Democrats elected act,” of 2024. The bumper sticker can read, “George Floyd would have voted for it!”
Posted by: TarlsQtr | Apr 26, 2023 8:40:29 PM
When you teach a child that this nation is founded on the principle of the consent of the governed, and "no taxation without representation," and also that the authorities should be trusted as they always act in good faith, and the latter proves to be false, resulting in a wrongful conviction and permanent loss of voting rights, what sort of citizen do you think that person will become after he finishes his unjust prison sentence?
Speaking only for myself, I still never lie, cheat, or steal, but I no longer obey laws just because they are laws. I regard the government as nothing but an especially powerful and hypocritical criminal gang, with absolutely no moral authority whatsoever, and I wouldn't lift a finger to save it if it were imperiled. I have no preference whether the tyrants I am ruled by live in Washington, Beijing, or Moscow.
So go ahead and continue to strip ex-convicts of voting rights. It will serve only to speed the collapse of this nation of hypocritical liars.
Posted by: Keith Lynch | Apr 28, 2023 8:14:13 AM
"I regard the government as nothing but an especially powerful and hypocritical criminal gang, with absolutely no moral authority whatsoever, and I wouldn't lift a finger to save it if it were imperiled. I have no preference whether the tyrants I am ruled by live in Washington, Beijing, or Moscow."
A more candid statement of the quality of "patriotism" on the pro-defense side is difficult to conceive. Still, at least the January 6 defendants have found a kindred spirit.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Apr 30, 2023 6:22:36 PM