Restoration of Leave of Disability Rights for Convicted Felons

Surviving a prison term is only the inmate's first hurdle.

Leaving a prison environment presents numerous challenges for convicted felons, beginning with the struggle to restore civil rights that they've lost due to their confinement--such as the right to vote, own guns, and serve on juries. These are known as civil disabilities, which are equal to legal disabilities--or disqualifications created by various state laws. Restoring these rights remains daunting for most ex-felons, although some states--prodded by protests raised during the 2000 and 2008 presidential elections--have attempted to address various aspects of how their restoration processes operate.

Size

Serving prison time for a felony conviction can bring unimaginable consequences down on offenders. A report by the National Sentencing Project estimates that one in 40 adults alone lose voting rights, or roughly 5.3 million Americans. Of that group, 2.1 million are ex-offenders who served their sentences. This issue has become highly debated in Florida, where some 960,000 ex-offenders were ineligible to vote in the 2004 presidential election.

Features

Serving a prison term also carries "collateral consequences," or related punishments that accompany the loss of civil rights. Thirty-three states tie the denial of jobs and licenses to the nature of the offense. But many of these laws are riddled with exceptions, and lack ways to protect ex-offenders' rights. Legal disabilities may be general, or specific. A general disability bars offenders from performing all legal acts of a particular class, while specific disabilities only apply to one particular act.

Consequences

Starting the process of restoring civil rights may begin with applications to seal records of an offense, or expunge them--the legal term for setting them aside. Only a handful of states offer this option, which typically applies to misdemeanor or first-time offenders, according to a 2005 Sentencing Project report. Seeking a pardon can be equally daunting, since only 13 states have granted them since 1995--and all but four limit them to persons whose cases aren't exceptional, the report states. This reality forces the ex-inmate to seek relief elsewhere.

Effects

Seeking relief at the state level frequently requires applying to boards of clemency, pardons or paroles to regain lost civil rights. With no uniform standard, nor central information resource, the ex-inmate is left to navigate the regulatory maze alone. Such was the case for Floridians wanting to vote in the disputed 2000 presidential election, as Washington Monthly reported in its January/February 2001 article. Ex-inmates not meeting any of the 23 qualifications for "fast-track" enfranchisement had to fill in a 16-page application to the state's clemency board, with the governor retaining final say.

Considerations

Faced with mounting cries for reforms--and criticisms raised after the 2000 presidential election--many states have changed all, or part, of their restoration procedures. Under revisions approved in 2007, for example, Florida's Office of Executive Clemency will automatically reinstate rights for many nonviolent felons, and certain types of violent offenders. That same year, Maryland repealed its controversial lifetime voting ban and three-year waiting period required for certain classes of offenders before they could seek reinstatement.

References

• Pardon Resource Center: 12 Steps To A Presidential Pardon
• Washington Monthly magazine, "Locking Up The Vote," Nicholas Thompson, January/February 2001
• Sentencing Project: Relief From The Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction

Resources

• NAACP: Restoring The Vote To Ex-Felons
• Federal Defenser: Mechanisms For Restoring Civil Rights Lost Upon Conviction
• NCSL: Voting Rights Restoration