Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation • Hacker News Board

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#41

Post by JoeAltmaier » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:40 PM UTC

hnaccy wrote: post #33

ryandrake wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Americans by and large see prison as this dungeon where we store people we don’t like for as long as possible rather than as a place where people who have made mistakes go to get the training and help they need in order to get back on track. That’s the simplest way to explain things like ultra long sentences compared to the rest of the civilized world, mistreating people after they’ve done their time (felon s…

If I murdered someone out of curiosity and in doing so realized it was not fun at all should I be allowed to go free immediately since I will not murder again? In other words the rehabilitation occurred during and as a result of the criminal act.

There's also 'fairness' in law - so you have to serve a sentence similar to others guilty of the same offense. And yes in this strawman case your sentence should perhaps not be a long one.

Except the sociopath angle - a person who commits crime for fun is quite likely to find another fun crime to commit.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#42

Post by ahoy » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:40 PM UTC

zeveb wrote: post #16

akuji1993 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's exactly what a private prison system leads to. You can see the system working as intended here. 5 years is... just ridiculous. There's no words for this kind of injustice.

I find five years a bit surprising, but what do you think the proper penalty would be for a felon committing voter fraud should be? Edit: I'm utterly amazed that this comment has been downvoted to silence. Disenfranchising felons — i.e., those who have committed extremely serious crimes — is while somewhat controversial a long-standing practice. The woman in question committed voter fraud by voting without being lega…

I think it's undemocratic to take away felons' right to vote.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#43

Post by mushbino » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:41 PM UTC

zeveb wrote: post #16

akuji1993 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, that's exactly what a private prison system leads to. You can see the system working as intended here. 5 years is... just ridiculous. There's no words for this kind of injustice.

I find five years a bit surprising, but what do you think the proper penalty would be for a felon committing voter fraud should be? Edit: I'm utterly amazed that this comment has been downvoted to silence. Disenfranchising felons — i.e., those who have committed extremely serious crimes — is while somewhat controversial a long-standing practice. The woman in question committed voter fraud by voting without being lega…

How is this voter fraud? The issue is with them not being allowed to vote in the first place.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#44

Post by Dirlewanger » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:41 PM UTC

lukeschlather wrote: post #15

gpm wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty damn racist comment. I'm sure it is not every white Texan, and I am sure it is not only white Texan's but also Texan's of other races. Is the relevant group predominantly white? Yes, probably. That doesn't make it acceptable to paint all white people with that brush. Imagine if I made a similar comment about black people and shootings.

The difference is power. Denigrating a politically weak group like black people is just bullying. Denigrating the dominant group is standing up to power.

Yup, you're sure showing all those poor whites in Appalachia and countless rural counties!

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#45

Post by drefanzor » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:41 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #22

danschumann wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the law she is guilty of far pre-dates the corruption of the system. I do agree that parts of are prison system have very corrupt parts, but this is a much older law. 5 years seems too long though.

> 5 years seems too long though Are you being sarcastic? 5 years for voting while on probation is "too long"?? How about: 1. Not preventing people who are in prison from voting 2. Not even having a "probation" time after people have been released from prison; they did their time, they are free again

I think you meant parole.

Probation is a "probationary" period that prevents you from going to prison, by substituting it with a period of time where you do classes, have a job, go to school, and/or community service also.

Parole is a period of time after you are released from prison where you are still technically a "prisoner" but you are being let loose to see if you do well in society for a little while, but with extremely high restrictions that can put you back if you sneeze wrong. The federal prison system no longer supports federal parolees.

In my state, Arizona, if you wait 2 years after you are "off paper" (completed parole/probation) you can have your rights restored so you can vote (this is for state felonies, not for federal felonies as far as I know). You can also have your record "sealed" where it still shows you are a felon, but as long as you didn't do anything dangerous(violent) or sexual in nature you can have the court hide what you did. This works out for people that performed financial crimes and are having a hard time getting a job as a cashier or anything to do with money. Or a person who stole a car and is trying to get hired as a driver.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#46

Post by sexoffender » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:42 PM UTC

ifdefdebug wrote: post #31

How does such an attorney and judge feel after such a trial? Do they feel satisfied, fulfilled? Taking away 5 years of someone's life over a little mistake that didn't hurt anyone? I don't get it: why does a free people like the Americans allow for that kind of sinister figures to be their prosecutors and judges?

You're thinking under the assumption that there's no corruption in the judicial system, and also that every judge and jury and attorney intend to act for the good of every individual person, rather than for some other agenda. That's the kind of naivety I had too. That's not how the world works. The world is a horrifyingly evil place.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#47

Post by cynusx » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:43 PM UTC

I never quite understood voter disenfranchisement. Some quick googling tells me that 6 million people are disenfranchised in the US, which out of 235 million voting-aged population means 2.5% of the US voting-aged population is disenfranchised.

It is also majority targeted towards black voters (despite 18% of voting population, 34% of disenfranchised are black)

Putting it together for me it's clear that police brutality, redistricting and rigid voter disenfranchisement all serve the same purpose. To disenfranchise black voters to the maximum extent possible while remaining constitutional.

This should become a supreme court matter someday.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#48

Post by chasing » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:43 PM UTC

ifdefdebug wrote: post #31

How does such an attorney and judge feel after such a trial? Do they feel satisfied, fulfilled? Taking away 5 years of someone's life over a little mistake that didn't hurt anyone? I don't get it: why does a free people like the Americans allow for that kind of sinister figures to be their prosecutors and judges?

Do you notice the color of the woman's skin? There you go.

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#49

Post by AckSyn » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:45 PM UTC

cynusx wrote: post #47

I never quite understood voter disenfranchisement. Some quick googling tells me that 6 million people are disenfranchised in the US, which out of 235 million voting-aged population means 2.5% of the US voting-aged population is disenfranchised. It is also majority targeted towards black voters (despite 18% of voting population, 34% of disenfranchised are black) Putting it together for me it's clear that police brutal…

You make a lot of leaps and assumptions in whatever logic you're using to jump from "isn't allowed to vote b/c of probation" to "omg blacks are targeted for harassment".

Re: Texas woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for voting while on probation

#50

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 30, 2018, 3:46 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #40

chrisseaton wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not even having a "probation" time after people have been released from prison; they did their time, they are free again I think you're mistaken about what probation is. Probation is part of your time. You're sentenced for a given period of time, and at some point you may be released to serve the rest of that time in the community, on probation. Their sentence isn't over, and they aren't 'free' while they are on pr…

Many people feel that probation is inherently unethical. X years of probation seems less harsh than X years in prison but often amount to the same thing. Without the option of probation prison time is not going to increase 1:1 and depending on the ratio total time in prison may actually decrease.

[deleted]