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Criminals
azstrummer — (archived)

Just what would be the criteria for the amount of criminal behavior that would exclude you from the process? Failure to pay parking tickets, getting arrested in an anti-war protest, simple possession of marijuana, a college prank gone bad? I've never understood why we seem to connect politics with criminal records such as excluding ex-felons from ever voting again.

I can understand, during the punishment period removing rights, but isn't our criminal system designed to rehabilitate the offenders in all but the most heinous of crimes? Once a person has paid back their debt to society in fines and time behind bars, what's this extra penalty we impose on them?

Aren't their lives affected by the laws that are enacted? Don't they pay taxes and contribute to society after their incarceration is ended? I see nothing wrong with ex-criminals getting into public service. Obviously, if there's a vote to place them there, their record is available to the public and it's completely within the right of the voter to consider the past offense but to exclude them by law just seems very wrong.

Art

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