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Ewald, Alec C. "Criminal Disenfranchisement and the Challenge of American Federalism." Publius: The Journal of Federalism 39.3 (2009): 527-556. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
In the article, Ewald reviews recent developments in the American felony disenfranchisement laws. The variables' that play a deciding role in a state’s likelihood of enacting reform is examined. He believes initial policy strictness is a strong predictor of restriction-relaxing change, as most of the dozen states that have passed reforms on felony disenfranchisement in the last decade began with very restrictive policies. It is argues that entrepreneurship by African American and Democratic lawmakers has been important, but many Republicans conclude that debating disenfranchisement can be advantageous to them, as well. The article concludes by examining two problems: whether prohibition follows a person who is relocating from one state to another, and whether Congress has the constitutional authority to liberate former offenders under certain circumstances. Ewald’s article offers a view of criminal disenfranchisement from a Federal view point. This could be beneficial in describing the differences between State and Federal practices.
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Friedman, Anne Kiehl. "Voter Disenfranchisement and Policy toward Election Reforms." Review of Policy Research 22.6 (2005): 787-810. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
Friedman’s article discusses the key factors, including, level of poverty, race, population density, and other demographic characteristics, that affected disenfranchisement in the 2004 elections. She argues that there are two forms disenfranchisement: partisan disenfranchisement and structural disenfranchisement. Using demographic statistics from the United States census in 2000 and voting data, Friedman, she relates these variables with the incidence of voter disenfranchisement for the three “swing” states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, with the states of California and Texas used as controls. Disenfranchisement has transformed from formal and governmentally established, to indirect and commonly overlooked.
This text offers a lot of back ground information on disenfranchisement. It could be easily used to give the reader a more in depth history of the subject before diving directly into the issue. Page two of the text offers a detailed explanation of the two different kinds of disenfranchisement and how they affect their respective income classes.
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Hinchcliff, Abigail M. "The "Other" Side of Richardson V. Ramirez: A Textual Challenge to Felon Disenfranchisement." Yale Law Journal 121.1 (2011): 194-236. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
Under Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, States have the right to revoke an individual’s voting rights or, disenfranchise, them based on acts of rebellion, or other crime while still maintaining the same number of representatives in the House of Representatives. This means that even though these citizens cannot vote in State elections, they are still counted in the State’s total population, which determines the number of Representatives a State can have. In the Supreme Court’s 1974 decision in the case of Richardson v. Ramirez, the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment provides “affirmative sanction” for disenfranchisement. The information in the article could easily be used to make a case against felon disenfranchisement. It provides highly detailed information on a federal court case about racially biased disenfranchisement. The text supports the argument that the practice is unconstitutional since it blocks roughly 5.3 million Americans from voting, that is 2.4 percent of the qualified population.
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Lanning, Kevin. "Democracy, Voting, And Disenfranchisement In The United States: A Social Psychological Perspective." Journal of Social Issues 64.3 (2008): 431-446. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.
In this issue of the Journal of Social Sciences, Kevin Lanning presents a series of articles concerned with the social psychological that criminal disenfranchisement has on the United States and the importance of democracy and political involvement. The articles explain the major features of democracy, which include autonomy, engagement, and equality. The articles state that self-governance is too easily given up since about half of the eligible adults choose not to vote. Lanning claims that numerous ideas drawn from psychological measurement may contribute to making elections more impartial. The replacement of the Electoral College
by a single collective popular vote would not only be more representative and democratic
but would significantly decrease the probability of controversial results in future presidential elections. This collection of articles provides examples of systems of disenfranchisement that could replace the current and outdated versions.
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Munn, Nicholas. "The Limits of Criminal Disenfranchisement." Criminal Justice Ethics 30.3 (2011): 223-239. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
Munn makes the case that criminal disenfranchisement is sometimes suitable as part of a reasonable punishment imposed on an individual. He argues that for a system of criminal disenfranchisement to be valid, it must only be enforced for those offenders who have committed serious crimes and must only be implemented within societies that have shown a high degree of integrity in its official engagements. A discussion on the concerns of various jurisdictions throughout several States that practice criminal disenfranchisement is discussed in the text to demonstrate the difficulties that the system must overcome or avoid. Munn also proposes a disenfranchisement system that he believes will work is discussed in the article as well. Since an argument is only valid if it addresses both sides of the coin this article is perfect for providing balance and offering a broader picture to the audience.
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Shaw, Katherine. "Invoking the Penalty: How Florida's Felon Disenfranchisement Law Violates the Constitutional Requirement of Population Equality in Congressional Representation and What to do about it." Northwestern University Law Review 100.3 (2006): 1439-1477. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2012.
Katherine Shaw, the author of this article, published by the Northwestern University Law Review, discusses her suggestion regarding the felon disenfranchisement laws currently in place in the state of Florida. She states that, as they are right now, the laws are a violation of a citizen’s constitutional rights. It provides an overview of the progress of the principle of one person, one vote. Historical analysis, conducted by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Fourteenth Amendment for the case Richardson versus Ramirez and its relationship with the number of Representatives a state is allocated is discussed in the article. Shaw discusses how the practice of disenfranchisement in the state of Florida correlates with other regimes that are currently in effect throughout the United States. This text is a great argument against the practice because it offers a specific example of a State that has had a recent explosion in the percentage of their population who are disenfranchised.
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