Wednesday, June 19, 2013

US Prison System and Its Ties to the Economy Part Four

What Happens Once You Have A Record?

In most states in the US, once you have a felony record, you no longer have the right to vote. Some states have changed this, but as of right now, most felons do not have the legal right to vote even after they have served their sentences and done their time. This is a rather creative way of ensuring that people who have been largely disenfranchised already are only further stripped of the ability to become productive citizens.

According to the Huffington Post, approximately 6 million Americans are disenfranchised as voters because of this law in these states. These statistics were gleaned from the Sentencing Project and they further report that the number had jumped by a staggering 600,000 persons unable to vote for the same reasons in just 2004. A large portion of these people are no longer in prison, meaning that they have the ability to vote but have not had their rights reinstated.

Who exactly are these people who cannot vote? What do we know about them? The vast majority of them, nearly 3 million in numbers, hale from Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia. In total, they are representative of 7% blacks who are now unable to vote. Breaking it down by individual states, the numbers are much more dramatic. In Florida, for example, 23% of those disenfranchised are black. There currently are no statistics on Hispanic populations that are reliable.

The number of disenfranchised voters continues to grow and the reasons that people can find themselves locked-up also continue to grow. In 1976, the number of total Americans who were denied the right to vote was only 1.2 million. Since the 1970s, the total number of disenfranchised voters has jumped by nearly 600%. Are you noticing the correlation to all the other things that started in the 1970s?

It is fair to say that your life can completely be ruined by one arrest, even if you are not convicted of the actual crime. Pleading no contest is not the same as a plea of guilty but can still land you paying court fees and possible probation. Time served could be long enough to cause you to lose your home, car or job even if you have done nothing wrong because you are not truly innocent until proven guilty. You are actually held until proven innocent or agreeing to anything it takes to get out in most cases. Many are forced to buy their freedom through fees and probation as part of plea deals.

Your arrest record will follow you around for many years, making future jobs difficult. Photos of arrests are often posted online for the world to see, in order to publicly shame and humiliate people...and these photos are taken at booking. Let us be clear - no one has been found guilty at that time. No one has even seen a judge at this point and in some cases, they have not even been formally charged. Yet, these photos are now out there to shame you for the rest of your life.

If you have a record, going back to school can be difficult. Obtaining loans and/or grants can be nearly impossible. As we've seen, even voting in the country that you were born in can be stripped away from you for the rest of your life regardless of whether or not you have paid your penalty - in time served and court fees plus probation costs. You are effectively “kept in your current position” by the system.

To say that this issue benefits one political party or the other would be incorrect. Both parties seem to gain financially from lobbying and donations to campaigns. Even judge Mark Ciavarella, Jr. was a registered democrat.


Watch for Part Five tomorrow: Political Ties

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