Scott, Cabinet make felons wait for return of rights

[FR7 Baptist]

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet on Wednesday imposed a minimum five-year waiting period for convicted felons to apply to have their rights restored, setting up a more onerous standard than the state has used for the past three decades.

Florida now joins only two other states - Kentucky and Virginia - that require felons who have completed the terms of their sentences to apply to have their rights restored. Critics say the new process is a return to post-Civil War Jim Crow laws crafted to prevent blacks from voting.

"The Board today didn't just go back to before the Gov. Crist reforms; they went way, way past that - placing brand new, long-term restrictions on getting basic rights restored," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. "The new administration that runs Tallahassee today demonstrated their hostility to the fundamental right of any democracy, the right to vote."

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I have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, a felony conviction should carry significant consequences. On the other, I believe felons should be able to have their civil rights restored after they serve their sentences and if they change their ways. The fact that the Governor and Cabinet did this doesn't bother me in and of itself. What bothers me is the reason they did it- a purely political action to hurt Democrats. That's because black people are disproportionately Democrats and felons.

 

[Salty]

- a purely political action to hurt Democrats. That's because black people are disproportionately Democrats and felons.

Actually, the most disproportionately group in jail/prison is men - the govt is out to prevent men from voting.

I wonder why more men than women are incarcerated?

 

[matt wade]

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.