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On February 20 the law school held the fourth annual Conard B. Mattox, Jr. Commonwealth Debate. This year's topic was "Should convicted non-violent felons be re-enfranchised after they have paid their debt to society?" The affirmative was argued by Brian J. Moran, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 46th district. Delegate Moran is the sponsor of House Bill 1298, which allows non-violent felons automatic re-enfranchisement five years after they have served their sentences. This bill is currently in the Senate. While Delegate Moran felt that the passage of the bill was an important step in reinstating the rights of felons, he insists that it should be only that, a step. Voting is a right, not a privilege, as expressly indicated in the United States Constitution. Currently there is only one avenue a felon has to follow in order to have his voting rights reinstated; this is outlined in the Constitution of Virginia. Once his sentence is served a felon has the option of petitioning the Governor's office to request a reinstatement of his rights. A Virginia Constitutional amendment allows that request to be sent to a review board the fate of the petitioner's voting rights is left to that board's discretion. The numbers show that this current policy is virtually ineffective; only a few dozen petitions are reviewed favorably out of hundreds of applicants. HB 1298 would apply to hundreds of thousands of felons in Virginia. Therefore there are hundreds of thousands of people who have served their sentences for previous offenses who have yet to be able to exercise their rights given to them under the United States Constitution. Virginia is one of only fourteen states who have lifetime disenfranchisement. All other states have policies ranging from allowing individuals the right to vote after a specified time subsequent to time served to reinstating immediately their rights upon completion of their sentence. There are three states who have decided not to take those rights away at all. While some would argue that felons have chosen voluntarily to act in a manner inconsistent with what society deems appropriate and therefore have also waived voluntarily those rights in that society, that is not quite what actually has gone on. In Virginia the legislature has continually set the classification for crimes higher. This means that what was once a class two misdemeanor becomes a class one misdemeanor and what has then become a class one misdemeanor later becomes a class six felony. So while the Virginia legislature has decided to classify more and more crimes as felonies, they have failed to re-adjust their policies on the rights of individuals who break the law. This means that there are individuals in our midst who will never again be allowed to take part in one of the fundamental rights of this country simply for writing bad checks (unless this bill is passed and even then, will be required to wait for a five year period after their sentence has been served). This policy is obviously contradictory to the principles behind not only the right to vote, but to the principles behind the entire United States Constitution. The speaker for the negative side was Professor Walter S. Felton, Jr. His stance on the topic was that felons need to show that they are once again acclimated to society. Non-violent felons, once released, need to show that they can and are viable members of society. Released felons should show that they have not fallen back to the ways of life that landed them in prison in the first place. What the House of Delegates is trying to do is pass House Bill (HB1298) that will allow non-violent felons the right to vote after a five-year waiting period. This bill was passed by the House and is now currently in the Senate. The main content of HB1298 is that once non-violent ex-felons have been released from prison they must wait five years to have their voting privileges automatically reinstated. This is not an improvement over the current standard practice. The current standard is if non-violent ex-felons want to be able to vote again they must petition the governor. This petitioning process does not automatically reinstate their voting privileges; the governor holds the right to deny the non-violent ex-felons their voting privileges. Also since the non-violent ex-felons must petition the governor for this privilege many do not. Applicants for the ability to vote again are few in number but this new bill will allow all of the non-violent ex-felons the privilege to vote again. With this new bill all non-violent ex-felons will have their voting privileges reinstated automatically after a five-year waiting period; they will no longer have to petition the governor and open themselves up to the possibility of being denied. For those that may think that this stance is harsh since the ex-felons have served their sentence, the House of Delegates believes that the five years is necessary because they feel that voting is a privilege and not a right. Every United States citizen has the right to vote once they reach eighteen and register. However, once someone breaks the law and is convicted that person is extracted from society and imprisoned until he or she has paid their debt to society. Once released the ex-convict must show that they want to be a participating and viable citizen again. They must show that they have learned from their mistakes and that they no longer participate in criminal activities that are harmful to society and its citizens. Voting is a right until you've been convicted of a crime, then it becomes a privilege that one must earn the right to have back. |
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