Minnesota, along with some other states, have restored voting rights to felons who have served their time. When I was in school, high school college I don't remember which, I was taught that the purpose of punishing criminals was reformation. The idea was that the perpetrator of crime would be reformed. Obviously revenge and deterrence have gained the upper hand. Continued disenfranchisement of felons is clearly punitive.
The origins of felon disenfranchisement as a form of racism came as news to me. See this Jennifer Rubin quote.
" It’s no mystery how these laws got on the books. No sooner had Black people received the right to vote after the Civil War did states began enacting felony disenfranchisement. And with the movement toward mass incarceration, which fell disproportionately on Black Americans (including for nonviolent drug crimes), the population of permanently disenfranchised minority Americans ballooned." Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post
Good on Minnesota!
Takk for alt,
Al
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