People really need to stop thinking about this stuff in terms of individualized will, it doesn't really work that way on a macro level. Looking at these kinds of structural forces to explain the disparity should be our default.
It isnt even hard to follow the few jumps to structural disenfranchisement:
Racially biased enforcement of drug and other laws -> disproportionate convictions -> disenfranchisement of felons -> racially discriminatory disenfranchisement
True! I imagine that played a big role. Hopefully we can put more work into figuring out why (that might have played the largest role but these things usually have multiple causes) and then do something about it.
When people say we need to figure things out, the information is almost always already "out there" - what they mean is that the information needs to be conveyed, in an actionable form, to those with the power and desire to do something about it.
Only a specific group, they exclude felons convicted of "moral turpitude" which was basically defined as anything that they could convict black people of. They finally defined that a little better so a group of felons gained the right to vote. It's still not perfect tho.
When felons include people arrested for things like nonviolent drug crimes, I have a problem with it. Although really, I always have a problem with it. Ex-felons are still citizens. If they're worthy to be let back out into society, they're worthy enough to vote.
231
u/[deleted] Dec 13 '17 edited May 04 '22
[deleted]