[EL] Student article on felon disenfranchisement

[Paul Lehto]

Perhaps the following shows how rehabilitation is hampered by not
having the vote.

A friend of mine (who formerly was a professional athlete) had a
felony drug conviction in the past and thought he could not vote.
However, though the state he lived in actually routinely entered
orders restoring civil rights in most cases upon release from jail or
prison, thus reducing post-release disfranchisement down close to
zero.   When I found the docket and the order, and then informed him
there was an order restoring his civil rights including the vote, he
beamed with a broad smile, was really happy, and uttered this "excited
utterance:"

"I'm a human being again!"

To me, his implied description of his state of mind prior to learning
that he could vote again would hamper anyone's rehabilitation not just
as a citizen, but in the sense of restoring human dignity after one's
debt to society has been paid.  This person is a very positive guy,
one who doesn't really hold grudges or settle on negative assessments,
so to me his reaction spoke volumes.

Paul Lehto, J.D.

Paul Lehto, J.D.

On 8/30/11, Josh Douglas <joshuadouglas at uky.edu> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> One of my students, Guy Hamilton-Smith, along with co-author Matt Vogel,
> just posted on SSRN their article *The Ballot as a Bulwark:  The Impact of
> Felony Disenfranchisement on Recidivism*.  It is forthcoming in the Berkeley
> La Raza Law Journal.  You can find it here:
> http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1919617.  The abstract is
> below.  I was happy to supervise this work and think it is a good
> contribution to the debate on felon disenfranchisement laws.
>
> Josh
>
> Felony disenfranchisement – the exclusion of individuals convicted of
> felonies from the voting rolls – is a practice that is commonplace in the
> United States. In 2010, approximately 5.3 million Americans were ineligible
> to vote because of a prior felony conviction. Despite the fact that the
> justifications for disenfranchisement in a democratic society could be
> characterized as dubious, disenfranchisement has withstood various legal
> challenges and remains a widespread practice in almost every state. One
> argument which has never been examined empirically is the notion that
> disenfranchisement hampers efforts to rehabilitate offenders, which is what
> this article does. First, this article explores the history and philosophy
> that underlies disenfranchisement along with theoretical mechanisms by which
> disenfranchisement can be thought to have an impact on recidivism. Second,
> the legal challenges that have been made against disenfranchisement are
> discussed with a particular focus on challenges under the Equal Protection
> Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as well as the Voting Rights Act. A novel
> constitutional argument under principles of congruence and proportionality
> is also examined. Third, this article uses re-arrest data collected by the
> United States Department of Justice to examine the impact of felony
> disenfranchisement on recidivism. These results are discussed along with
> implications for future inquiries.
>
>
> --
> Joshua A. Douglas
> Assistant Professor of Law
> University of Kentucky College of Law
> 620 S. Limestone
> Lexington, KY 40506
> (859) 257-4935
> joshuadouglas at uky.edu
>


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Paul R Lehto, J.D.
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