EMPLOYMENT is KEY to the success of a felon, as is a decent and safe place to live. Felons are still brothers/sisters, mothers/fathers, aunts/uncles…you get the picture. Employers have a responsibilty to hire the best available applicant. Anytime more than one person wants the same thing, they must compete for it.

Prison is an easy solution to the problem of crime and doesn’t require much thought. Our politicians like prisons too: it fits in very easy to the predominate culture of sound-bite politics. Prison is an expensive, incredibly punitive sanction that should legitimately be reserved for those who pose a threat to society. Its overuse drains resources from other essential areas of government.

State law requires felons to complete their entire sentence, including probation or parole, and satisfy all applicable financial obligations before they can resume voting. The individuals must obtain a certificate noting their voting rights have been restored. States have also used felon-disenfranchisement laws as pretext for voter (registration) roll purges that also disenfranchise non-felons. A particularly notorious and consequential example of Voter role purge in the 2000 Florida election was the Florida 2000 Database Technologies (DBT) purge of 82,389 mostly African-American, more than 90% of whom should have been eligible to vote. States with the highest percentage of African-Americans frequently have the harshest disenfranchisement laws and those with the lowest black populations find the least need to bar felons from the polls. At the least restrictive end of the spectrum are Maine and Vermont which, respectively, have .04 and .03 percent African-American populations (compared to the national average of 12.1%) and happen to be the only two states that allow convicted felons to vote from prison.

Ex-felons should have their civil rights restored automatically following their unconditional discharge from the criminal justice system. The statutory denial of rights to ex-felons after the completion of their sentence infringes upon their citizenship and the collective citizenship of the communities to which they eventually return. Ex-felons are therefore not equal, and without such equality they do not share in the “common citizenship” enjoyed by their counterparts who have not been convicted of a felony. Ironically, the very process of serving one’s sentence is in effect an obligation of citizenship, and one that should be rewarded with the restoration of rights.

Felons are not given a voice while in jail and now they do not have a voice out of jail. That is basically telling them that they are second class citizens and that is far form the truth because everyone is equal. Felons are overwhelmingly from urban areas, and we all know urban areas vote blue. Felons are disproportionately black, and blacks vote about 90% Democrat. Felons are not just like everyone else. And the fact that felons are even more likely to vote Democratic than previously believed surely guarantees that some Democratic supporters will continue their efforts to get them to the polls.

Felons are barred by federal law from possessing firearms, for example. Felons are forever branded. They must declare their convictions on every employment application.

Felonies are typically the most serious crimes in any system of criminal law. However, any crime that has a sentence of only a fine or confinement in the local jail does not necessarily qualify for a felony. Felonies defined as serious include the same offenses defined as violent felonies, but also include other offenses such as burglary of a residence and assault with intent to commit robbery. There are other felonies that are not classified as violent or serious, such as grand theft and possession of a controlled substance.