Should the status of 'felon'

[Occulus]

be eliminated from US law?

The brand of 'felon' is very, very like the Scarlet Letter. As a felon, you can be searched at will, denied the vote, denied a job (or the consideration thereof), and even (in the case of sex offenders) arrested because a specific crime was committed in the vicinity of their residence.

Convicted felons who have been released from prison or probation or community service have far, far fewer rights than you or I, despite the sham of 'equal justice under the law'. The sad fact is that felons are incredible on the stand- regardless of their testimony- simply because they are felons.

In other words, if you are raped and/or attacked, and the only witness is a convicted felon, don't expect a conviction on your behalf. Don't expect justice. Felons are... felons. They are scum of the Earth and are untrustworthy as all hell, and every word they say under oath is suspect.

So says society.

I say differently. I contend that those who have 'paid their debt'- be it time in jail or probation or whatnot- should be given the exact same consideration in eazch and every way as you or I. If not, then our entire penal system- from juvenile law right up to the most hardened criminals the mind can conceive- is a sham and a scam, and should be abolished in favor of something new (and, as yet, unconceived).

Discuss.

And I should warn you who flame... I have the right bower in my hand, and I will use it :)

"right bower" is the most powerful card in Euchre, a card that no other can beat.

[bluestateguy]

1. 6 states deny felons the vote for life

Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Florida, Louisiana and Iowa. 5 out of 6 of those states have high percentages of black people. Hmmmmm.

[Porcupine]

2. As a "convicted Felon" I have to say the legal system's a sham......

once arrested the majority of people quickly learn that their "public defender" has no interest in defending them or even in meeting with them. Then they get to learn that you have to spend at least 15 to 20 thousand dollars for even the most simple felony defense.

If you should get arrested for a domestic violence, sexual abuse or child abuse charge you will have the added penalty that you will get extra attention from the D.A. That means that they will add as many charges to your tag as they can invent. Standards of proof are slim and judges are NOT interested in playing fair.

America is currently jailing more people than any other first world nation. It is a Gulag system designed to feed an industrial machine rather than protect anybody.

People who commit crimes and serve their time should have the same rights as anybody else. Anything else is just another apartheid state.

[Paschall]

3. No, the "felon" distinction should not be abolished

It's used to distinguish between two degrees of crime: misdemeanors and felonies.

But I do agree that felons should not be denied ordinary rights because they once committed a crime... unless the punishment fits the offense. For example, I think any politician convicted of committing a felony related to his official powers should have his voting rights and right to run for political office suspended. Temporarily. Say for five years. Similarly, business owners and members of boards of directors convicted of felonies related to their official functions should have their right to open a new business (register a corp.) or serve on a corporate board suspended for a few years.

Does prohibiting car thiefs from voting serve any community interest? No. I don't believe the death penalty is a deterent to crime; surely losing voting rights is even less of a deterent. But it does effectively block an ex-convict's full reintegration into society, which is counterproductive for everybody.

[wdwilder]

4. once upon a time, when there was no such thing as a

victimless crime, the status of felon was reserved for those whose crimes were so heinous that no sane person would ever trust them again. To borrow from the great Arlo Guthrie; they were "father rapers and mother killers".

Because the status of felon was so disabling it required a grand jury to find that someone, not the accused, had been injured in some way and that there was some reason to believe that the accused did it but then public schools were invented and generations were indoctrinated in the belief that the common law was old fashioned, silly, and had something to do with getting married without really getting married and that it's better if laws are "made" by professionals who know what they're doing instead of being "discovered" in the habits of ordinary people who manage to get along with their neighbors alright most of the time.

After all, if a majority of the people want to permanently enslave everyone who forgets that they're not supposed to wear blue on Tuesday then that's their right because the best organized and biggest mob is always right right?

[w4rma]

6. What the heck do public schools have to do with any of that

You want to tell me HOW "public schools" "indoctrinated" people to believe that about felonies.

How do you know it was "public schools" and how do you know it wasn't the television and radio indoctrinating people who were too ignorant to know better?

[newyawker99]

7. Hi wdwilder!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Paschall]

9. No, in fact...

...the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony, and the attendant grand jury hearings on felony cases, are set up to protect the accused.

Felony cases simply carry much heavier penalties, including capital punishment. Once upon a time, the "status" of felon carried no other "disabilities."

[Man_in_the_Moon]

5. Should they also have their firearm rights restored?

Along with their voting rights?

[11 Bravo]

8. Don't you think a scarlet "F" would look good on Rush?

n/t