Body & Soul0 min ago
Ok Convince Me....
27 Answers
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Is there any possible argument that criminal lowlives deserve the vote?
Is there any possible argument that criminal lowlives deserve the vote?
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Some criminal acts are serious enough to warrant depriving people of more than just their liberty. It's the blanket ban approach that seems wrong.
Many of the inhabitants of our penal system are as jim described - first time offenders, white collar criminals,etc, so taking away the right to vote seems a bit excessive, to me. And we should also be considering the balance of what we are trying to achieve with prison - safety of the community at large, punishment of the individual who has broken the law is a given, but if we wish them to become productive members of society once they have served their sentence, rather than simply going back to a life of crime, there has to be an element of rehabilitation too. And voting is a civic duty so could be seen as part of the rehabilitation.
It does mean finding some way of separating the minor criminals from those undeserving of keeping such a right though, and probably the easiest way of doing that relates to the length of their original sentence.
Many of the inhabitants of our penal system are as jim described - first time offenders, white collar criminals,etc, so taking away the right to vote seems a bit excessive, to me. And we should also be considering the balance of what we are trying to achieve with prison - safety of the community at large, punishment of the individual who has broken the law is a given, but if we wish them to become productive members of society once they have served their sentence, rather than simply going back to a life of crime, there has to be an element of rehabilitation too. And voting is a civic duty so could be seen as part of the rehabilitation.
It does mean finding some way of separating the minor criminals from those undeserving of keeping such a right though, and probably the easiest way of doing that relates to the length of their original sentence.
Selective quoting, there baz, since I also went on to say that I doubted it would make a difference. Still, there are reasons to believe it might. If you treat prisoners who are soon to be released as though they are members of society -- with some respect, in other words -- it's certainly more likely to be beneficial than referring to them as "lowlifes", "scum of the earth", "filth", "sub-human", and so on.
This storm in a teacup still running ? It doesn't matter a jot. The effect of all prisoners voting is unlikely to change a thing. And if they get a vote at least they have an insignificant say on who rules over the country and are presently deciding on the laws that imprison them. It really is no big deal one way or the other though.
