After serving time in prison, have you paid your debt to society?

[KelleyKramer]

This is an interesting way our society works.

It reminds me of the old cliché ...

"Don’t do the crime if you cant serve the time".

That’s the tough guy response in America to anyone who commits a crime.

Sounds like simple, even handed justice. But its not, its a lie.

Here is the reality... Say you get busted for drugs, convicted, and sentenced to 7 years in prison to 'pay your debt to society'.

You serve your time in a dangerous prison, manage to not get stabbed or killed, don’t get into any trouble, and after your time is up they release you because you paid the price for your crime.

But are you really finished paying the price? After serving your full sentence, have you paid your debt to society?

No, you haven't.

Because you will never be able to vote again.

You are not a full citizen.

Actually you are not even half a citizen. Hell, there are immigrants who can vote and you cant.

Even if you were caught with those drugs when you were a stupid 18 year old kid.

After serving your full 7 years, you could voluntarily go back to prison for another 10 years to 'pay your debt' to society and it still wouldn’t make a difference.

In much of the United States of America you will never be able to vote again for the rest of your life.

You still don’t count and never will.

"Paying your debt to society' is a lie.

[bluestateguy]

1. Only in 6 states

Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Kentucky (noticing a pattern here?) and Iowa. The other 44 states allow voting once you have either served out your parole/probation, and Vermont and Massachusetts allows prisoners to vote.

[athena]

2. It's not only if you've been convicted;

you can also lose your right to vote if you're unlucky enough to get on the criminals list.

I totally agree with you, by the way. Every adult citizen should have the right to vote, no matter what.

[WindRavenX]

3. Also

Many ex-convicts have a tremendously hard time finding a job after prison- how many employers do you know that would hire an ex-con? This is even more true for felons.
The result is desperation and no economic mobility.

[JohnnyRingo]

4. We're still living under Johnson era drug laws

Because if a pol dare call for sensible drug law reform, he or she is haunted by the label of "soft on drugs".....political suicide, even in the 21st century.

[Born Free]

5. Everyone should be a CO

Everyone should have the opportunity to do some time as a Correctional Officer, it would do good to let people actually see what life in like and how the prisoners live and how Core=rectional Officers must deal with these individuals. It's easy to sit back and say something about it but until you have actually spent some time in the reality of the system, you really can't fully appreciate what is going on.

[UdoKier]

6. It also can be a hindrance in finding a job.

If I were an employer, I wouldn't hesitate to hire someone who committed a minor drug offense or a minor theft, but I would not hire a habitual thief or repeat violent criminal.

There may be some who would call this unconscionable discrimination.

But it's no different than auto insurance companies charging more to those who get tickets and cause accidents.

As for voting rights - I am not really opinionated about it. I don't think felons lean that heavily democratic. Hell, most scam artists I've ever seen were repukes. Leave it up to the states. But if you are going to bar felons from voting, you had better be DAMN sure that they are indeed felons.