Give Criminals The Right To Vote?

[WinePusher]

We will be going off severe crimes in this thread such as rape and murder, not minor misdemeanors.

1) Should a criminal be given the right to vote when incarcerated?

2) Should a criminal be allowed to vote when their sentence has been served completely?

[LiamOS]

That depends on what you want the nature of the punishment to be. If prison is meant to remove them completely from society, then they should not be let vote and vice-versa.

If you're allowing people back into public life(i.e. not on probation, etc.) then they should certainly be allowed vote.

[Lux]

I think convicts should be given the right to vote. The more you alienate a person from society, the more unlikely it becomes that they will ever reform.

[Kuan]

What about the social contract?

Criminals broke the social contract, so they lose some of their rights, such as the right to vote.

[Lux]

What about the social contract?

Criminals broke the social contract, so they lose some of their rights, such as the right to vote.

Yes, they did. And they are punished for it.

Ex-cons have a very hard time when they are reinserted into society, especially those who committed dangerous crimes and discounting those who pretty much cannot reform (psychopaths). They practically can not hope to get a job, they served a long sentence so they probably lost all their friends and family contact, any partners they might have had, etc. As a society, we can either let ex-cons reintegrate or we can be pretty sure that they will return to their previous behavior.

As prisoners, small things like not being able to receive visits or not being able to vote further alienate them. The more alienated they become, the (even) less likely they are to successfully become productive citizens ever again. I think it's in society's best interest to make small concessions to help inmates become part of society again someday rather than to never give them a second chance and have them committing crimes again and going back to prison (becoming once again a burden on the system and on all of us).

[WinePusher]

What about the social contract?

Criminals broke the social contract, so they lose some of their rights, such as the right to vote.

I agree. The idea behind stripping felons of their right to vote is that voters should be productive members of society, felons clearly aren't so they lose that right. I would say that severe criminals such as murderers and rapists should lose that right permanently, even if their sentence had been served.

Those who think that murderers and rapists can be reintegrated back into society are quite misguided, in my opinion. Punishment, and prevention, should be the first and foremost concern of our criminal justice system. Rehabilitation is not always effective, and depending on the severity of the crime, sending "rehabilitated" criminals back into society could possibly lead to the same repeat of the crime. Punishment should always take priority over rehabilitation and punishment generally is a form of rehabilitation.

[WinePusher]

What about the social contract?

Criminals broke the social contract, so they lose some of their rights, such as the right to vote.

I agree. The idea behind stripping felons of their right to vote is that voters should be productive members of society, felons clearly aren't so they lose that right. I would say that severe criminals such as murderers and rapists should lose that right permanently, even if their sentence had been served.

Those who think that murderers and rapists can be reintegrated back into society are quite misguided, in my opinion. Punishment, and prevention, should be the first and foremost concern of our criminal justice system. Rehabilitation is not always effective, and depending on the severity of the crime, sending "rehabilitated" criminals back into society could possibly lead to the same repeat of the crime. Punishment should always take priority over rehabilitation and punishment generally is a form of rehabilitation.

[Lux]

I agree. The idea behind stripping felons of their right to vote is that voters should be productive members of society, felons clearly aren't so they lose that right. I would say that severe criminals such as murderers and rapists should lose that right permanently, even if their sentence had been served.

That's very questionable. How do you define "productive members of society"? People who have never had a job and are burdens on society have a right to vote, for instance.

Those who think that murderers and rapists can be reintegrated back into society are quite misguided, in my opinion. Punishment, and prevention, should be the first and foremost concern of our criminal justice system. Rehabilitation is not always effective, and depending on the severity of the crime, sending "rehabilitated" criminals back into society could possibly lead to the same repeat of the crime. Punishment should always take priority over rehabilitation and punishment generally is a form of rehabilitation.

I see several problems with the idea that people can not reform. The most subjective one is that it is contrary to the concept of forgiveness, and the most objective one is that it is very expensive to support prisoners. While they are in prison they are anything but productive, and we pay for their everything from food to cable tv. If people serving decades-long sentences were all just kept in for life the cost of maintenance of prisons would go up dramatically. It is not something the USA can afford right now, nor is it a wise move, economically. We are talking either raise taxes significantly, or do some serious cuts in other areas.

In addition, while prisoners who exhibit psychopathic behavior certainly can not be reformed (or at least we don't know how) there's no indication to show others can't change their ways.

[ChaosBorders]

I think convicts should be given the right to vote. The more you alienate a person from society, the more unlikely it becomes that they will ever reform.

Considering the high percentage of psychopaths and other mentally unstable individuals among such criminals, does it really make sense to allow elements of society known to be the most dangerous to have influence over who is in charge of it?

[Lux]

I think convicts should be given the right to vote. The more you alienate a person from society, the more unlikely it becomes that they will ever reform.

Considering the high percentage of psychopaths and other mentally unstable individuals among such criminals, does it really make sense to allow elements of society known to be the most dangerous to have influence over who is in charge of it?

So we should just strip all prisoners from the right to vote because we have not yet succeeded at identifying psychopaths?

All we achieve by alienating prisoners entirely is making sure they have near null possibilities of reinsertion. We might even be creating more sociopaths. Less ex-cons re-entering society means more ex-cons committing crimes again and going back to prison. How is that desirable for anyone?