End Felony Disenfranchisement
The idea that a person who commits a felony deserves to have their vote taken away from them, that they give up the right to vote because they have committed a crime, is absurd. To begin with, it assumes that all people convicted of felonies are guilty. You don’t need to look any further than the headlines to see stories of people wrongfully convicted.
And for someone who is Black or brown, charges can quickly escalate to the threshold of a felony in a way that just doesn’t happen for white people. There is something called the “school to prison pipeline,” which is the idea that young Black men are pushed into prison from an early age after being identified as “problem children,” aggressive or dangerous.
Police are routinely present in schools. Punitive measures such as suspensions interrupt the learning process and push students further from the school community. The magazine “Learning for Justice” explains, “Policies that encourage police presence at schools, harsh tactics including physical restraint, and automatic punishments that result in suspensions and out-of-class time are huge contributors to the pipeline.”
The same crime, committed by two different people is almost sure to result in two different outcomes. You and I can both smuggle cheese over the Canadian border (that’s really a felony by the way[1]), but if I’m a product of the prison system already, and you’re a college graduate, its not hard to imagine who will get the bigger punishment. Should I lose my right to vote because I don’t have access to the best attorneys? Because the system has failed me again and again?
There are nonviolent felonies too, so how is the distinction made between someone who has done something so wrong that they can’t have their voice heard, and someone who can at least participate in the democratic process? Murder? What about fraud? What about possession? Those are all very different things.
It’s easy to hide behind the felony charge, claiming that it is not racially motivated. But the truth is that we know African Americans are disproportionately impacted by felony disenfranchisement. According to the ACLU, “Many of these laws were passed during the Jim Crow era with the intent to bar minorities from voting. Disproportionate numbers of people of color continue to be prosecuted, incarcerated, and disenfranchised due to these laws. As of 2016, one in every 56 non-black voters lost their right to vote. Conversely, one in every 13 Black voters was disenfranchised.[2]”
I urge the Delaware legislature to consider becoming one of the small minority of states and territories that allows incarcerated people to vote. Despite opposition to this idea, Maine, Vermont and Washington DC are all perfectly fine.
Author Bio
Dr. James J. Ruffin is an experienced instructional leader with a record of accomplishment in leading successful "turn-around" school and district-wide efforts, in high poverty low achievement schools. He believes that public education is the most powerful instrument for promoting equity and justice for all children and families. Dr. Ruffin holds a EdD in Innovative Leadership from Wilmington University.
[1] Canada cheese-smuggling ring busted - policeman charged - BBC News
[2] —Bobby Hoffman, Advocacy & Policy Counsel, Voting Rights, ACLU (2019)[9]
