Restore the Right to Vote Automatically in Kentucky
Crime Goes Down When Former Felons Get to Vote
Kentucky is one of only 4 states that takes away the right to vote from persons
convicted of a felony. This is a bar that can only be rPictures of Kentucky
Prisonsemoved after making application to the Governor. Because each governor
differs in how willing he or she is to restore this right, the practice is open
to arbitrariness. House Bill 70 http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/12RS/HB70.htm is a
proposal to change our law by changing the constitution to require the automatic
restoration of voting rights after a person completes their sentence. This
approach avoids anyone claiming the arbitrary use of discretionary power, and
instead provides certainty and predictability. It encourages participation in
the community, promotes democracy, and welcomes our sons and daughters back. If
passed Kentuctians will have an opportunity in November to vote for this change.
HB 70 is scheduled to be heard in committee on Tuesday, Jan 24, a 8:30am. Call
1-800-372-7181 and ask your state legislators to support HB 70 if it comes
before them in committee and when it is called for a floor vote in his or her
chamber. Or use the prepared message and email your legislators.
Conference Position
The Conference supports passage of HB 70
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/12RS/HB70.htm because it is in keeping with our
social teaching and with the Catholic Catechism. It is our belief that each of
us is created in the image of God and that each person possesses a basic dignity
the comes from God. As a result we each have certain rights as well as
obligations. One such is the right and the obligation to participate in the
public life of the community. This obligation finds expression in the Catholic
Catechism when it teaches that exercising the right to vote is a moral
obligation.
http://old.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt2.shtml#art4
For additional information and links to other materials, click here.
http://ccky.org/2012/01/conference-supports-automatic-restoration-of-voting-
rights-to-former-felons/
I am a Catholic and I support HB 70 because it is mirrors our faith's desire
that persons who have completed serving their sentences should become "full
participating members" of society, which includes the right to vote. This
approach, rather than leaving it to a Governor, avoids anyone claiming the
arbitrary use of discretionary power, and instead provides certainty and
predictability. It encourages participation in the community, promotes
democracy, and welcomes our sons and daughters back.
In addition to wanting to restore persons to full participation in society,
there is the added benefit shown by studies that those who have their voting
rights restored are also less likely to become repeat criminals. Christopher
Uggen and Jeff Manza, in "Voting and Subsequent Crime and Arrest: Evidence from
a Community Sample," Columbia Human Rights Law Review (2005) "find consistent
differences between voters and non-voters in rates of subsequent arrest,
incarceration, and self-reported criminal behavior." In the data studied,
between 1997 and 2000, 16% of non-voters were arrested, compared to 5% of
voters. For persons with a prior arrest, the analysis of the data indicates that
27% of non-voters were rearrested, compared to 12% of voters.
And a news story in August 2011 in the Miami Herald reported that the Florida
Parole Commission, after studying 31,000 cases in 2009 and 2010, found that a
released felon in Florida whose civil rights are restored is much less likely to
commit a new crime than others in the prison population. The agency studied
31,000 cases over a two-year period in 2009 and 2010 and found that about 11
percent of people whose civil rights were restored ended up back in custody.
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