WASHINGTON -
October 22 - A stunning proportion of black men in the United States will not be
able to vote in the November elections because they have been convicted of a felony,
according to a new report released today by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project.
In seven states, a staggering one in four black men is permanently disenfranchised.
In two states, Alabama and Florida, the ratio is one in three. If current
trends continue, in a dozen states as many as 30-40% of the next generation of black men
will permanently lose the right to vote.
Almost every state in the U.S. denies prisoners the right to vote. But fourteen
states bar criminal offenders from voting even after they have finished their sentences.
In these states, over one million ex-offenders are permanently disenfranchised.
Any felony can trigger disenfranchisement. A first-time young offender who
pleads guilty to a single drug sale and is placed on probation can lose the right to vote
for a lifetime.
"These people have paid their debt to society. It makes no sense to turn them
into political outcasts," said Jamie Fellner, associate counsel at the New York-based
Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. "No other country in the world
takes away the right to vote for life."
"Fifty years after the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, it is tragic that
every day more black citizens lose their voting rights," said Marc Mauer,
report co-author and assistant director of The Sentencing Project, based in Washington.
"This is not just a criminal justice issue, but one of basic democracy."
Nationwide, a total of 1.4 million black men-thirteen percent of all black men-cannot vote
either because they are permanently disenfranchised ex-offenders, or because they are
convicted felons currently in prison, on probation or on parole. The number of
disenfranchised adults of all races is 3.9 million, three-quarters of whom are not in
prison but are on probation or parole or have completed their sentences.
The report, "Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the
United States," is the first-ever state-by-state analysis of the impact of felony
disenfranchisement laws.
The rate of disenfranchisement has grown higher in recent years as a result of harsh drug
laws and mandatory sentencing requirements, which have sharply increased the number of
offenders behind bars.
Disenfranchised ex-offenders can seek a gubernatorial pardon to restore their voting
rights, but few have the information or resources needed to do so. In Virginia, for
example, there are more than 200,000 ex-offenders, but in 1996 and 1997, only 404 regained
their voting rights.
Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project call for an end to permanent
disenfranchisement. They also urge Congress and state legislatures to ensure
citizens convicted of a felony retain their ability to vote unless disenfranchisement is
part of a court-imposed sentence for specified serious crimes. In addition, the two
organizations urge the United Nations Human Rights Committee to address U.S. criminal
disenfranchisement laws in light of international human rights treaties prohibiting
unreasonable or racially discriminatory restrictions on the right to vote.
"Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United
States" is available from Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project and will also
be available, after October 22 at 14:00 E.S.T., at
http://www.hrw.org/reports98/vote/ or at http://www.sentencingproject.org.
Human Rights Watch is an independent non-profit organization that uses research and
advocacy to promote respect for internationally recognized human rights in the Americas,
Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
The Sentencing Project is a national non-profit organization engaged in research and
advocacy on criminal justice policy.
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Losing the Vote: Summary
Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States
provides a comprehensive analysis of the impact of state laws that disqualify current and
former felony offenders from voting. The report includes the following statistical
highlights:
46 states and the District of Columbia prohibit inmates from voting while serving a felony
sentence. Four states-Maine, Massachusetts, Utah, and Vermont-permit inmates to
vote.
32 states prohibit felons from voting while they are on parole and 29 of these states
exclude felony probationers also.
10 states disenfranchise all ex-offenders who have completed their criminal sentence.
Four others disenfranchise some ex-offenders. In addition, Texas
disenfranchises ex-offenders for two years after they have completed their sentences.
An estimated 3.9 million Americans, or one in fifty adults, have currently or permanently
lost their voting rights as a result of a felony conviction.
1.4 million persons disenfranchised are ex-offenders who have completed their sentences.
1.4 million African American men, or 13% of black men, are disenfranchised, a rate seven
times the national average.
In seven states that deny the vote to ex-offenders, one in four black men is permanently
disenfranchised.
Given current rates of incarceration, three in ten of the next generation of black men can
expect to be disenfranchised at some point in their lifetime. In states that
disenfranchise ex-offenders, as many as 40% of the black men may permanently lose their
right to vote.
The scale of felony voting disenfranchisement in the U.S. is far greater than in any other
nation and has serious implications for democratic processes and racial inclusion.
The impact of these laws has been exacerbated by a quarter century of "tough
on crime" criminal justice policies that have led to more people going to prison for
longer periods of time. Policymakers at the state and federal level should
reconsider these policies in light of legitimate correctional objectives and the
democratic interests served by recognizing the right to vote of all sectors of the
population.
Fact Sheet: States That Bar Ex-Offenders from Voting
Alabama has disenfranchised 241,000 people, more than 40 percent of whom (105,000) are
black men. Nearly one out of three black men in the state has lost the right to vote
(31.5 percent). The right to vote can only be restored by a pardon from the
governor. In 1996 and 1997, only 359 people were able to regain the ability to vote.
Arizona has disenfranchised 74,600 adults, or 2.3 percent of the adult population. But the
rate is five times higher for black men, of whom 12.1 percent have lost the right to vote.
First offenders have their right to vote restored automatically after they complete their
sentence. Offenders who have been convicted of more than one offense can only get the
right to vote back by waiting at least two years after release from prison and
applying to the court or by obtaining a pardon from the governor.
Delaware has disenfranchised more than 20,000 people, or 3.7 percent of the population. Of
those, 8,700 are black men. One in five adult black men cannot vote in the state of
Delaware. The only way they can regain their voting rights is to obtain a pardon from the
governor.
Florida has disenfranchised more people than any other state in the country - 647,100
people. This constitutes a rate of 5.9 percent of the adult population, which is
three times the national average. Florida also has taken the vote away from more black men
than any other state in the country - 204,600 people. Nearly one-third of all the
disenfranchised people in the state are black men. More than two-thirds of these
disenfranchised people have already served their time and been released from prison, or
finished their probation or parole. If they want their voting rights back, they need
to obtain a gubernatorial order restoring their civil rights, or they must obtain a
pardon.
Iowa has disenfranchised more than one in four black men, or 26.5 percent. In total,
42,300 adults have been disenfranchised, and 60 percent of them are not in prison. Only
the governor can restore their voting rights.
Kentucky has disenfranchised 0.8 percent of the adult population, including 7.7 percent of
the state's black men, because they are currently under correctional supervision.
The state also disenfranchises ex-offenders, but those figures are not available.
Of the disenfranchised people in the state, 29 percent are black men. Only the governor
can restore the right to vote.
Maryland is one of four states in which black men comprise more than half of all
disenfranchised people. Of the total adult black male population in Maryland, 15.4 percent
cannot vote, or 67,900 people. Of the total adult population, 3.6 percent have lost the
vote, which is double the national average. First offenders regain the right to vote
automatically, but second offenders do not. They need a pardon from the governor.
Mississippi has disenfranchised 145,600 people. More than half of the
disenfranchised (81,700) are black men, representing 28.6 percent of the black men in the
state. Convicted felons can regain the right to vote through a pardon or executive order
of the governor, or if the state legislature passes a bill, and the governor signs it,
restoring their voting rights.
Nevada has disenfranchised 10 percent of the black men in the state, or 4,000 people,
because they are currently under correctional supervision. The state also
disenfranchises ex-offenders, but those figures are not available. One out of four of the
currently disenfranchised people in the state are black men. They can regain the vote
through various administrative procedures, or by a pardon from the governor.
New Mexico has disenfranchised one out of four black men. Four percent of the adult
population has lost the right to vote, or 48,900 people. Of these, 38,000 have completed
their sentences, or nearly 80 percent. Convicted felons can only regain the vote if they
obtain a pardon or restoration of rights from the governor.
Tennessee has disenfranchised 97,800 people, or 2.4 percent of the adult population. More
than half of these are people who have already served their time and been released. Nearly
two-fifths of them are black men (39 percent), and 14.5 percent of all black men in the
state cannot vote. People who were convicted before 1986 can only get their voting
rights back by petitioning the court, while most of those convicted after 1986 get their
rights back automatically.
Virginia has disenfranchised 269,800 adults, or 5.3 percent of the total population, which
is more than twice the national average. Eighty percent of those people have already
completed their sentences. More than forty percent of them are black men. One out of four
black men in Virginia cannot vote, or 110,000 people. Convicted felons may apply to the
governor to restore their voting rights five years after they've completed their
sentences. In 1996 and 1997, a total of 404 ex-offenders had their voting rights restored.
Washington has disenfranchised 16,700 black men, or one out of four black men in the
state. Ex-offenders convicted prior to July 1, 1984 remain disenfranchised unless they
receive a pardon. After 1984, convicted felons lose the vote while in prison, on
probation, or on parole.
Wyoming has disenfranchised 4 percent of the state's adults --14,100 people
--which is a rate twice the national average. More than one in four
black men (27.7 percent) in Wyoming is barred from voting. Three-quarters of the state's
disenfranchised adults are ex-offenders who have completed their criminal sentences. The
right to vote can only be restored by the governor.
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Texas is not one of the fourteen states that permanently disenfranchises ex-offenders. But
it does bar ex-offenders from voting for two years following completion of their sentence.
Texas has the second highest number of disenfranchised people in the country: 610,000
adults, or 4.5 percent of its adult population, twice the national average.
One quarter of those people are black. Twenty percent of the black men in the state cannot
vote.
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