Pubdate: Tue, 15 Feb 2005
Source: Post-Standard, The (NY)
Copyright: 2005, Syracuse Post-Standard
Contact:  http://www.syracuse.com/poststandard/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/686
Author: Marsha Weissman, executive director of the Center for Community 
Alternatives in Syracuse
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)

RESTORING EX-FELON'S VOTE ANCHORS SOCIETY TO JUSTICE

Over the last several weeks, your editorials have provided sound opinion 
and recommendations on critical "bookends" to criminal justice policy.

The editorial Feb. 7 commented that "Rockefeller drug law reform" enacted 
by the state Legislature in December should only be a first step in more 
widespread changes to those draconian laws. The editorial Feb. 11 urged 
restoration of the right to vote to ex-felons. Together, these point to a 
new way of anchoring criminal justice policy in reintegration rather than 
punishment.

At the front end, a reintegration perspective would use incarceration as a 
last resort. Rockefeller drug law reform, for example, would allow for 
sentences that promote treatment rather than incarceration.

At the back end, for those persons who commit crimes that still require a 
prison sentence, time spent in prison would be focused on ensuring a safe 
and productive re-entry. Restoration of voting rights is one piece of that 
process.

Overuse of incarceration has a particular impact on African-American and 
Latino communities, as your editorial points out. With one in three 
African-American young men in the criminal justice system due to what is 
now widely recognized as the cumulative racial disparity at every stage of 
the criminal justice system (see recent reports by the U.S. Sentencing 
Commission and the American Bar Association's Kennedy Commission), the 
denial of voting rights because of ex-felon status undermines the 
cornerstone of the hard-fought civil rights battles that dominate the 
history of our country.

In the 2000 presidential election, more than 4.6 million Americans were 
barred from voting because of felon disenfranchisement laws across the 
country. The majority of these people were African American and Latino.

The large number of African Americans in our own community who have been 
caught up in the criminal justice system not only denies individual voting 
rights, but discourages other family members from voting and deprives 
children of adult role models of civic engagement.

Voting is our most tangible way of participating as a law-abiding 
stakeholder in society. Research shows that when felons are allowed to 
vote, it encourages them to avoid further criminal conduct.

The Center for Community Alternatives is proud to be a partner with many 
organizations across the country seeking changes in the law on a broad 
range of reintegration issues - voting rights, employment rights, access to 
public housing, access to higher education. Our Syracuse Recovery Support 
Program, led by people who have re-established themselves as productive 
members of our community, is available to help people returning from 
incarceration.

We host workshops on civic responsibility, and are available to help people 
restore their voting rights. Our door is open to those seeking to become 
fully reintegrated into our community.

Marsha Weissman is executive director of the Center for Community 
Alternatives in Syracuse.
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MAP posted-by: Beth