Should Prisoners Be Allowed To Vote Free Essay Example

Can you imagine a world where people who have wronged others are still able to sabotage their victims, even before they have finished their punishment? That world is the world we live in today, no matter how unfair that world seems. Prisoners in Texas can vote, being able to effectively cancel out their victims' votes. Do these kind people deserve the rights that even some law-abiding citizens do not have? But would taking away the right from criminals be against the constitution? Prisoners still have some rights that are protected under the 5th and 6th amendments, but they should not be able to have the right to vote. 

People who are currently in prison for major crimes like murder and assault should not be allowed to vote while incarcerated. In most prisons, they would have the majority of the votes, even counting the local people, because most prisons are in low population areas so they would be able to get the upper hand in the vote. That wouldn’t mean that low security prisoners that were just caught at the wrong time would be stopped from voting, though. But even many law-abiding citizens do not get the right to vote in elections, or have to bend over backwards to vote, so why should criminals be allowed to vote before they have learnt their lesson? 

Prisoners are not all criminals. Some people may point out that some prisoners are just innocent people, caught and accused of a crime they never committed. But that is just the way it goes sometimes. Also, the prisoners still have rights, but is the right to vote one of the rights they should be permitted to have? People who believe that prisoners should be allowed to vote may say yes, but if we can kill prisoners and deny them basic rights, is the right to vote any different? 

Criminals already know the consequences of their actions. “All but two states, Maine, and Vermont, take away the right of felons to vote when they are convicted and are serving their sentences. Such a policy makes perfect sense and is in the best interests of our society and local communities. As a federal judge said in 2002 in an unsuccessful case challenging Florida’s disenfranchisement law, felons are deprived of their ability to vote because of 'their own decision to commit an act for which they assume the risks of detection and punishment.'" von Spakovsky, 2019) This means that people in prison have a debt to pay to society, but they haven't paid it off yet. All but a few states have made it so that prisoners can’t vote. They don’t lose much else, but who wants the murders and armed robbers to get a vote for people like the president?  

In conclusion, prisoners should not be allowed to vote while incarcerated. By committing the crime(s) that landed them in prison, they have assumed the risks and the consequences. We already have dismissed most of the rights they have as human beings and losing the right to vote temporally won’t be the worst thing that has been taken from them. But it will make the rest of us a lot safer. Prisons have slowly been getting nicer and more comfortable for prisoners. Without the right to vote, prison will look much less appealing to rising criminals. This would also cut down on the number of rapists, murders, arsonists, terrorists, assassins, burglars, and other criminals who get a large contribution in the decision of what type of people are in our government.