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Regaining
the
Vote:
Sentencing
Project
Report
Details
State
and
Federal
Activities
1/28/00
In 1998, a study by Human
Rights Watch and the Sentencing Project found that 13 percent of African
American men and nearly four million Americans have lost the right to vote
due to felony convictions. Felony disenfranchisement, together with
mandatory minimum sentencing and the year 2000 census, were named by Congressional
Black Caucus chairman James Clyburn as the most serious current civil rights
issues, speaking to a democratic awards dinner last May (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/090.html#clyburn).
A new report by the Sentencing
Project outlines legislative and legal activity in thirteen states and
in Congress to address the issue of whether convicted felons and ex-felons
should have the right to vote. "Regaining the Vote: An Assessment
of Activity Relating to Felon Disenfranchisement Laws" reports the following
state and federal activity:
-
Legislation to restore voting
rights has been proposed or considered in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware,
Florida, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Virginia.
-
Inmates' voting rights have
been restored in New Hampshire after a state constitutional challenge,
and a legal challenge has been brought in Washington state, based on the
Voting Rights Act.
-
The Subcommittee on the Constitution
of the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing in October, 1999, to consider
restoring federal voting rights to non-incarcerated felons.
Regaining the Vote also reports
that Utah voters chose to take away the right of inmates to vote, and that
a similar measure is being considered in Massachusetts. Affecting
felony disenfranchisement indirectly, a 1999 Louisiana vote restricts the
set of crimes for which first offenders can receive automatic pardons upon
completion of their sentences.
Marc Mauer, Assistant Director
of the Sentencing Project, said that "The expansion of the criminal justice
system over the past 25 years has created an ever-larger pool of ineligible
voters. Current efforts to restore the right to vote to offenders
who have 'paid their debt' to society may help to bring the US more in
line with other democratic nations."
Regaining the Vote, written
by Mauer and Patricia Allard, is available from the Sentencing Project,
1516 P St. NW, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 628-0871, or online at http://www.sentencingproject.org.
-- END --
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Issue #123, 1/28/00
Gore Drug Use Question Leads to More Questions | San Francisco Approves Plan to Issue ID Cards to Medical Cannabis Users -- Buyer's Club Seeks Business License | Britain: Shelter Workers Sentenced to Prison for Refusing to Inform on Clients | UK Police Report: Legalizing Drugs is Obvious Choice | Michigan Initiative Effort to Rely on Volunteers, Enthusiasm | Court Strikes Down Cincinnati Ban | Regaining the Vote: Sentencing Project Report Details State and Federal Activities | AlertS: Legislative Action in Maryland and Virginia | Anderson and Boje Cases Seeking Support | Editorial: A Not So Nutty Professor
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