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Should felons be allowed to vote?
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Felons have paid their debt to society

By serving their sentence, felons have repaid their debt to society. Disenfranchisement means they are continually punished.

The Argument

Imprisonment is a punishment for crime. Once a felon leaves prison, they have completed their punishment and repaid their debt to society. After a felon leaves prison, their punishment is over. Because of this, it is unfair for the state to punish them further by restricting their voting rights.

Counter arguments

The situation is not so straightforward that we can say that once a felon leaves prison, they are finished with their punishment. The State has numerous mechanisms to mediate felons' returns into wider society, such as probation. All of their rights and freedoms are not automatically reafforded to them, and voting should be no different.

Proponents

Premises

[P1] The state dictated a punishment for a crime felons committed, and they completed this punishment. [P2] They should not continue to be punished for this.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] Just because they have served a sentence does not mean felons have proved they deserve to vote.

References

This page was last edited on Friday, 24 Jul 2020 at 19:14 UTC

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