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Let the Incarcerated Vote

theatlantic.com

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Re: Let the Incarcerated Vote

#5
post #2

No, just no.

In Europe allowing incarcerated to vote is normal. It isn't even a political issue.

The right to vote is valued differently in different nations of course. In some nations it is literally above everything else, while in others it isn't. This "ranking" of rights reflects the values within the societies.

Edit: And to add another commonly used argument: If you don't understand the right to vote as a super-right that cannot be taken away, someone will take it away at some point. Maybe they will just take away somebody else's right first. Probably a minority that nobody likes anyways. But this is a slippery slope which gives governments the incentive to criminalize things based on whether it will help them in the next election or not. Better not to have that incentive and criminalize things because they do actual harm to the public, than making it a political issue.

Re: Let the Incarcerated Vote

#9
Not my problem, but I'm torn on my opinion. On the one hand, seems like an interesting idea. On the other, the US is known as being too quick to incarcerate people. Rather than spend energy arguing about letting incarcerated people vote, it seems more useful to make sure that nobody is being locked up for victimless crimes and taking a harder look at why anyone is being locked up for non-violent crimes.

It seems potentially reasonable that violent criminals should be disenfranchised. Some people should not have a voice in society - like raping murderers.

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