When an offender is convicted of a felony he or she must be punished. This retribution not only included serving prison time, but fines and revocations. This subject is significant because we live in a culture where prisons are congested and crime is going up. The laws should be designed to support techniques in place that deter returning to prison and contradict them. Convicted felons lose many of the civil rights that are given to citizens without a record. Annulling these civil rights increase the opportunity of recidivism, dehumanizes the former offenders and overall damages the treatment process. Miller & Spillane, (2012). There are over five million U.S. citizens involved in some kind of correctional program …show more content…
Meredith & Morse (2014). However some states believe that by taking these civil rights are key steps the overall deterrence process.
The idea called “Civil death” is used to describe convicted felons, because the decision to commit a crime ultimately effects them for the rest of their lives. This idea from roman legal tradition is an old practice used since the creation of state criminal laws. Miller & Spillane, (2012). Every American has a list of given civil right that come with their citizenship. These rights are put into question when one becomes a felon. Felons are able to keep certain right but others are taken away from them. Some examples of rights that are taken away from felons are the right to vote, right to bear arms, financial aid, job opportunities, and jury exclusion. When examining the debate over felon civil rights, one can start with the 14th amendment. The 14th Amendment was approved after the American Civil War. Many people who are against the idea of taking about felon civil rights will refer to this amendment. …show more content…
The supporters of this method agree because of three main ideas. Firstly, many of the supporters like the idea of letting the states control the punishment of an offender that commits a crime in their territory. They believe that each state is like a parent and the kids in the state are their kids. Each parent has the right to discipline their kids the way they see fit within reason. Secondly, some supporters believe that civil rights are privileges and when you chose to commit a crime, you should lose some of those privileges. They would rather reward the citizens that make good choices with retaining though privileges. Mitchell (2005). Lastly the term “Law abiding Citizen” is used when determining who should be considered when assigning constitutional rights. Again many supporters of the idea want to demote offenders’ citizenship status to limited after committing the crime. Owens & Smith