Question

Persuasive speech (4-5 minutes) on why should prisoners be allowed to vote. Can contain facts from research but does not need citation. Must have introduction, body and conclusion.

Answer 1

Recently, when Senator Bernie Sanders supported the right of individuals in jail to vote, as is the case in his home state of Vermont, he sparked a national discussion. In doing so, Sanders raised long-overdue fundamental issues of democracy and citizenship. Allowing people to vote in prison would benefit both the goals of public safety and enhance democracy in the 21st century.

However high however our U.S. incarceration rate is, so are our rules on criminal disenfranchisement by comparable nations ' standards. Because of a current or previous conviction for crime, an estimated 6.1 million people were denied the right to vote as of 2016. Of this number, 1.3 million have been incarcerated in federal or state prisons. Disenfranchising those in jail is detrimental in terms of public security, as 95% of these individuals will return home eventually. Re-entering the community is a difficult process, but it is more likely that individuals with strong connections to the community will be successful.

Involvement convicted of a crime is an indication that it is "untrustworthy" to be a member of the electorate. That form of test of character is a slippery slope which can only lead to a decreased pool of voters. My neighbor may be an addict or a bad parent, but he still has the right to vote in a democracy. Or I might think anyone who's a known racist and Islamaphobe shouldn't be allowed to vote, but once each of us heads down that path, we're going to produce a pretty slim electorate.

Felony disenfranchisement also lacks the significant distinction between a criminal's legal sentence and one's citizenship rights. Persons convicted may be sentenced to jail, but they generally uphold their fundamental rights. Thus, even if someone is held in a prison cell with maximum security, he or she still has the right to marry or divorce, or to buy or sell property. And to the degree that voting can be conceived as an expression of freedom of speech, remember that a prisoner could send and have published an op-ed article to a newspaper, likely with greater impact than casting a single vote.

Proponents of the Disenfranchisement often raise the specter of a "voting bloc" of prisoners that would run counter to the wishes of the "law-abiding public." If such a group of "pro-crime" people were a real threat, they would have to hoodwink the public into electing a majority of state lawmakers as well as a governor who shared their position. This imaginary concern is hardly a public safety threat.