Facepunch Politics/Thoughts: Should Prisoners have the right to vote? - Polidicks

yes

no taxation without representation that should apply to criminals as well as anyone because voting in a democracy is a right if it's only a privileged, it's not much of a democracy, it's an elected plutocracy.

What do you think he's gonna' do, vote to make murder legal? It's a non-issue. Do not give politicians any extra incentive to try and lock up their opponents.

If you are gonna be forced to pay taxes, you should under no circumstances be barred from choosing who you are paying your taxes towards. The idea that a one time offender can be barred for life from voting due to one mistake is absolutely disgusting.

We can call it a civil right if we want, but there's already precedent for restricting the franchise in way we don't apply to other rights- you don't need to be 18 years old or a citizen to exercise the right to free speech. IMO arguments that appeal to voting being a right aren't very substantial, considering imprisonment is the deliberate deprivation of civil rights. JohnnyMo's point about avoiding political corruption is historically the reason democracies have maintained the franchise for convicted criminals, not any aversion to denying civil rights to people who have already been denied free movement, free association, and free speech as punishment for crime. There's not much reason to deny them the vote and plenty of reason not to.

Do we have to explain the concept of the civil rights act again or can you just do us all a favor and just google it

What incentive / reason is there to go back to obeying a society's laws if you don't even get a say in that society after serving your sentence?

Are they citizens? Then there's your answer

I feel it's a slippery slope to deny him the right.

Motherfucker, he bombed a building and murdered 70+ people, his vote is as good as useless as it is unneeded.

Where do you draw the line though? I think it's unecessary to worry about how bad you have to be to not get to vote. It's not like we have a lot of mass murderers anyways. They're not a big demographic

If your bombing buildings in your own country/city, regardless of intent, you shouldn't be able to vote in your countries/cities election. Honestly, it just comes down to severity.

Sure. I get ya. I just don't know where to draw the line, and I don't think the outcome is worth the extra restriction. (Outcome being that basically nothing changes)

Are you against the Civil Rights act and think black discrimination would've done itself away without that massive interference or something?

This is stated as fact but really it's just your opinion. Luckily Florida doesn't think like you.

No. Clearly people who are in jail because their backward-ass government hasn't legalized weed yet shouldn't be allowed to vote. /s

Of course you take it to the absolute extreme to make everyone else look crazy. Really the pinnacle of debating over a political position.

Man did you even read the post I was replying too, or did you just see "shouldn't be able to vote" and rush out a snipe?

The fact is he is a person and is still affected by things that happen where he lives. The right to vote should not be revocable

Something about the question of whether to not revoke voting rights from convicts while politics is chock full of criminals is rather hilarious.

the word of the law means very little when analysing what pragmatic effects it has (or doesn't) on people.

Honestly, a guy voting republican causes more death and suffering indirectly than a serial killer kauses directly. I don't think everyone should have the right to vote, but going by severity of act is stupid

[citation needed] Over 50 million people voted republican in 2016 And all of these 50 million people caused several deaths indirectly? So how many are we talking here, 200 million deaths?

I think if your sentence is over 5 years, which would be a serious crime with that amount of time, then you cannot vote until released.

Why?

Sentences vary strongly from country to country.

You vote for politicians who implement policies. If the politicians you vote in have environmental policies which we already know will kill millions and displace many more, you are complicit in those consequences. I'm not sure what citation you want, this is the core of democracy. Republican voters are in the end the reason for a large portion of the deaths caused from climate change. This is purely an example and applies to both parties, but more aignificantly to the republican party

Probably look at how many people would lose their healthcare under the Obamacare repeal alone lol. If you want to get real fun with numbers, try Iraq War, the crimes of the Contras and Pinochett, the AIDS Crisis that Reagan did nothing about, the War on Drugs. Look at how many people lack healthcare because of republican elected in Massachusetts special election, where we would have a public option otherwise. Reagan was opposed to government intervention, and he cut the budgets of non-military[171] programs[172] including Medicaid, food stamps, federal education programs[171] and the EPA.[173] He protected entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare,[174] but his administration attempted to purge many people with disabilities from the Social Security disability rolls.[175] The Reagan administration was often criticized for inadequately enforcing, if not actively undermining, civil rights legislation.[185][186] In 1982, he signed a bill extending the Voting Rights Act for 25 years after a grass-roots lobbying and legislative campaign forced him to abandon his plan to ease that law's restrictions.[187] He also signed legislation establishing a federal Martin Luther King holiday, though he did so with reservations.[188] In 1988, he vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, but his veto was overridden by Congress. Reagan had argued that the legislation infringed on states' rights and the rights of churches and business owners.[189] These views were exacerbated by the fact that Reagan's economic regimen included freezing the minimum wage at $3.35 an hour, slashing federal assistance to local governments by 60%, cutting the budget for public housing and Section 8 rent subsidies in half, and eliminating the antipoverty Community Development Block Grantprogram.[164]

Oh sure if our timeframe is infinite.

Our time frame is that in 2009, 45 000 people died directly because they didn't have health insurance. Republican policies want to increase the number of people who do not have health insurance. It's not an infinite hypothetical timeframe.