Time and place matter in this work because the author uses time and place to show how life continues and things have changed; yet, the impact of the night of the assault continues to haunt Anton. I believe that there are three key points that support my position. These points are; how Anton matured over time, how his surrounding places changed after the war, and how Anton held onto the events that took place in Haarlem, even though he as well as the places around him changed.…
I will explore the view points of the employer, the convicted felon, and the public.…
Revoking convicted felon’s rights to vote has been an issue at hand in politics since the beginning of our nation. Edward Fesser published an article in the magazine titled City Journal called “Should Felons Vote?” In the article he is arguing against the views of Democrats and their motives for restoring convicted felons voting rights. He says their motives are to expand their chances in winning an election. Edward Fesser’s argument is weak because he fails to provide substantial evidence supporting his arguments on the disenfranchisement of felons.…
This essay discusses my reflection on whether or not felons should have the right to vote. A felon is defined as a person who has been convicted of a felony, which is a crime punishable by death or a term in state or federal prison. A felony is a serious crime usually punishable by imprisonment or death. Convicted felons should not be allowed to vote. Many Americans were not allowed to vote these past elections. It wasn’t because they didn’t pay taxes or were mentally incompetent or underage. The reason why they can’t vote is because they are convicted felons. Once someone has committed a serious crime or felony, they have shown that they are not trustworthy enough to vote. Because they disobeyed the law, they should not have the obligation to vote. If one is sent to prison, they have agreed that most of their rights have been taken. Prison is meant to be a punishment and one of their punishments is their loss of freedom and democratic rights for their time of their sentence. Convicted felons have also demonstrated poor judgment and should not be trusted with a vote. The main point of a prison sentence to show the offender and society that criminal behavior results in loss of freedom and most of the rights that freedom has to offer. Therefore felons should not be allowed to vote. Although some people believe that felons should be allowed to vote at any circumstance but I believe that if they are felons they have already lost that opportunity because they have decided to make the choice to participate in criminal activities. If the felon is not willing to follow the law himself, then they should not demand the right to vote. In California, felons serving time in prison or county jail are denied their right to vote. According to The Sentencing Project, 5.3 million Americans were unable to vote in 2008 due to a felony conviction. Unfortunately, statistics show that this number is expected to rise to 6 million.…
References: Uggen, C and Manza, J. (2002) Democratic Contraction? Political Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States. American Sociological Review, Vol. 67, No. 6 (Dec., 2002), pp. 777-803.…
Criminal history and job opportunity is a major concern for a number of businesses, schools, and organization due to a growing number of inmates being released from prison, and entering into the labor market (Pager, 2006). According to the Bureau of Justice (2015), a total of 646,881 inmates were released from prison throughout the United States. These inmates will be required to seek employment. Studies demonstrate that employers are reluctant to hire someone with a criminal record, if given the opportunity to hire someone without a criminal record (Holzer, Raphael, & Stoll, 2009). Some jobs and activities will not hire someone with a criminal record and are prohibited by law for any participation of individuals with certain…
In, “Beyond the Prison Bubble,” published in the Wilson Quarterly in the winter 2011, Joan Petersilia shows different choices about the imprisonment systems. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation (para.1). The crime rate over a thirty year span had grown by five times since 1960 to 1990. There are more people of color or Hispanics in federal and state institutions then there are of any other nationality. The prison system is growing more than ever; the growth in twenty years has been about 21 new prisons. Mass imprisonment has reduced crime but, has not helped the inmate to gradually return back to society with skills or education. But the offenders leaving prison now are more likely to have fairly long criminal records, lengthy histories of alcohol and drug abuse, significant periods of unemployment and homelessness, and physical or mental disability (par.12).…
One of the major questions in this controversy is: what exactly are the rights of ex-felons? Many of the supporters of a felon’s right to vote believe that it is unfair to seemingly punish them twice for the same act. They believe that a felon’s debt to society is their time behind bars; they don’t believe that a felon should lose their vote and spend time behind bars. “Felons who are out of prison have largely served the punishment prescribed by the judicial system. Shouldn't that be enough?”(Mauer). They believe that incarceration and losing their right to vote, would be too many punishments for one crime. Edward Feser, however, has a point against this. “Few people would say that the drunk driver sentenced to lose his license and pay a hefty fine is punished twice. Most would agree that given the crime the two components are perfectly apt.”(Feser). Just because they have paid enough of their debt to be allowed out of prison, does not mean there are not continuing consequences (Clegg).…
It has become conventional today to dismiss the good in criminals. Collateral consequences are the result of this common ideal, intended to further punish criminals after prison. The American Bar Association’s National Inventory of Collateral Consequences catalogs over one thousand collateral consequences of conviction in Washington state alone, ranging from felon disenfranchisement to ineligibility for medical care and food stamps. The consequences of conviction set ex-criminals up for failure, and eventual recidivism. Although considered to ensure community safety, collateral consequences should not be imposed on ex-felons due to their detrimental effects on individuals and society and inability to recognize rehabilitation.…
In the same year the Harvard Institute of Politics surveyed more than 3,000 people and discovered that 79% of African American youth and 62% of Hispanic youth had little to no trust in their local police department, and two-thirds of young African Americans and 43% of young white Americans believed that the judicial system did not fairly judge people. Why is there a growing distrust in the American legal system? In the grand scheme, the United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate of which African Americans, though they make up 12% of the U.S, encompass 40% of the prison population. This indicates that not only does the American legal system not focus enough on rehabilitation, but it also disproportionally incarcerates African Americans. Such a lack of uniformity is problematic because a legal system designed to develop and maintain society by returning more productive individuals to society should do so in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. The passage of the…
The biggest form of punishment seems to be incarceration. This is obvious by the number of people currently incarcerated and the overcrowding problems that jails have today. It seems even the most minor, insignificant crimes are being punished by jail time. These crimes include driving on a suspended license, petit theft, and public nuisance. In December of 2009 the Bureau of Justice put out its latest statistics on the current inmate population. There were 2,304,115 people incarcerated in the United States as of December 2008 (Bulletin, 2009, p.8).…
“Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans” states Michelle Alexander, (the author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010) ), in an interview with a nonprofit, independent publisher of educational materials known as Rethinking Schools. A perfect example of Michelle Alexander’s statement is Sonya Jennings who is an African American mother, as well as a convicted drug felon. She was sentenced to eight years probation after being arrested for possession of drugs, and since she is now labeled as a felon, illegal discrimination such as, denial of the right to vote, denial of public assistance, and employment discrimination have now become legal (Alexander). The Jim Crow system has been redesigned in America today, legalizing discrimination against people with criminal backgrounds (Alexander).…
Deterrence is a primary goal to instill fear on the offender so that they will not commit future crime. Punishing offenders to instill fear in society is teaching society a lesson and showing the consequences of committing crime. Punishment has always been imposed based on the idea that it will deter individuals from committing crime or repeating criminal acts (AK Larrabee 2006). Incapacitation is the most common form of punishment. Punishment through incarceration is a temporary fix to crime while the offender is confined. The maximum sentence of life in prison and the death penalty has been debated on whether they are deterrence to crime (AK Larrabee 2006). Certain crimes will benefit from rehabilitation than from punishment, such as non-violent drug related crimes. Criminals who commits act of crime to support their drug habit need treatment more than punishment.…
The primary authors of this study are Jeffrey I. Ross and Stephen C. Richards. They are the authors of the book “Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society after prison” in the year 2009. Their claims are not based on any research-based methodologies but rather with first hand experiences and personal observations. After being released from prison, most of the re-entries suffer from employment and housing discrimination from society, that corrections officials ignore the formidable challenges that ex-inmates, both men and women are facing in finding employment and housing (JI Ross & SC…
Even though the criminal justice system has made tremendous progress in trying to address the issue of discrimination within its ranks, a lot remains to be desired. A keen analysis of the treatment of certain racial groups reveals that rather than recede, racial discrimination is indeed growing. Even though most criminal laws are facially neutral, the way they are enforced shows that they are pervasively and massively biased. The criminal justice system has struggled to free itself from historical injustices, and this has over the years threatened to undermine five decades of hard-fought progress relating to civil rights (Corsaro, 2015). Even though the vestiges of segregation were abolished by the civil rights laws, most people of color can…