The European Court of Human Rights in its infinite wisdom has declared that prisoners should all have the right to vote in state elections. Fortunately the UK MP's for once have used some common sense to vote against this lunacy being implemented in Britain - for the time being at least. Once Europe starts making demands, our leaders generally cave in pretty quickly so if this court wants to make this ruling legally binding then we will undoubtedly go along with it. Should prison inmates have a say in who runs the country? Personally I think they can get fucked. They can earn the right to vote once they have served their time and are released back into society. While behind bars, they should have no say in anything that affects the life of someone on the outside in such a significant way. Full article
Ideally I would want to see a situation where those serving time for victimless crimes would be able to vote, however that would be extremely hard to define. Then again if we are talking victimless crime they ideally wouldn't be behind bars in the first place.
I don't have strong opinions on this issue, but the EU can go fuck itself on general principle as far as I'm concerned.
No convicted prisoner should have the right to vote. Fuck why don't you just let them out to roam about? And I see the UK people have already caved: "Ministers say they have no choice but to comply with the ruling, but they will do the "minimum necessary" under European law, restricting the right to vote to inmates serving sentences of four years or less." It's only a matter of time before they cave all the way and let all prisoners vote. The EU is stupid. You guys really need to get out of it and fast.
If they're locked up then no. If they've served their time then it's dependent on the crime committed.
We've had a situation up here where a city councilman had to resign because he didn't go through the process of getting his full citizenship franchise back after committing a felony when he was 18... Merely serving your time in jail doesn't get your citizenship franchise back.... You've got to ask the courts to restore it...and some crimes, you can't get that franchise back.
I don't see any reason why all convicted prisoners should automatically lose the right to vote. I'd say that this issue should boil down to exactly what crime they are in for.
Here a felon can vote after a conviction but must prtition the state parole board for a pardon to regain full rights. Second amendment rights are only granted under a pardon as far as I know and not all pardons grant this basic right. Yes, some of the more heinous crimes are all but void of such a course of action.
I go to the other extreme. I say that all convicted prisoners should automatically lose the right to vote. But, all free men should automatically get the right to vote restored immediately upon release.
Indeed. Think of prison as "time out" from society. You can play with the other kids when you get out.
Gotta disagree here. I'd say of course prisoners should lose the right to vote while in prison but to automatically grant it back when they get out? Not for all of them. The exceptions: Murderers: If you take someones life you are permanently preventing them from ever voting so you should never be allowed to vote again unless you are given that right back. Child Molesters/Rapists: Just cause they are scum. Simple as that. I'd prefer that anyone convicted of such a crime received an automatic life sentence but I don't run the country. People convicted of voter fraud: If you can't do it legally you shouldn't be able to do it at all. (unless that right is given back to you) The same goes for owning guns. We don't need former felons walking out of prison and going to the nearest gun shop to buy a gun.
Obviously I was speaking of an ideal system. Given my druthers, everyone would get any and all rights restored the moment they're released. The catch is that it doesn't matter what the judge sentenced you to. At the end of your term, if you're still a danger to society, well, you don't get released. Full stop. Ideally, if a man isn't capable of exercising his rights responsibly, he shouldn't be released. If you can't be trusted to [-]vote[/-] [-]own and manage real and personal property[/-] own a gun, you shouldn't be released.
