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The Problem of Felon Disenfranchisement

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Beaker, Jul 16, 2012.

  1. jackfinarelli

    jackfinarelli Well-Known Member


    Is this message brought to you by "Felons for Gore"? :)
     
  2. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2012/jun/05/bill-nelson/bill-nelson-compares-rick-scotts-voter-purge-2000-/
     
  3. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    I can't remember the Florida State player a few years back who got caught in that "insider theft" bit at a local mall, but as I recall he was prepared to cop to a felony plea and a suspended sentence just so he could get back to playing football as early as possible. I remember thinking highly of Bobby Bowden when he (Bowden) told the kid to forget it, playing football wasn't worth a felony hit on your record.
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    uhm ya missed that little world "nonexistent" in there, eh?
     
  5. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Naaahhh..
     
  6. franticscribe

    franticscribe Well-Known Member

    Since when are felons a protected class? What the hell? Unconstitutional to discriminate against them? Absolutely not. Bad public policy? Maybe.

    I think the path toward restoring rights to felons should be a little bit easier so that those who are reforming themselves can have a chance at full citizenship again. But there's no way you can make a seriously valid argument that it's not OK to discriminate against felons.
     
  7. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    Are every single one of those 1 in 35 innocent?
     
  8. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    I really have a hard time as seeing this as a problem.
     
  9. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    One problem is there isn't uniform rule across the country.
     
  10. printit

    printit Member

    The word "felon" used to mean something when it was used to describe the worst of the worst (murder, rape, robbery, etc.) Now we label people as felons when they use small amounts of drugs, fall a few thousand dollars behind on child support, write bad checks over a few hundred dollars, misuse prescription medicine, etc. There needs to be a third classificication, a middle ground between misdemeanor and felony to capture people who do things that are bad, but really not that bad.
     
  11. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Why is that a problem? It's a states' rights issue.
     
  12. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Thank you, Strom Thurmond.

    And I favor the disfranchisement of Donald Sterling.
     
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