George Runner is at it again. The California Republican state senator is building a political career by attacking the rights of formerly incarcerated people. California law already stipulates that those who are imprisoned for a felony conviction cannot vote, but with California SB 370 and a parallel bill in the state assembly, citizens who are serving on parole or probation would also become disenfranchised.

One has to question the motivation of this bill. In 2008, thousands of formerly incarcerated men and women registered to vote–many of them for the first time, and the vast majority of them, Democratic. Stripping formerly incarcerated people of the right to vote would disenfranchise a disproportionate number of African American and Latino citizens, many of whom may be able to attribute their incarceration and/or probation to biases in the justice system (i.e., police practices, sentencing guidelines, decision-making, etc.). As evidenced by the outcomes of the failed War on Drugs, it is important to evaluate the racial impact of any proposed legislation–a stance which has been widely touted by the Sentencing Project, and one which I firmly support.

To attack the rights of this population, while ignoring the biases and conditions that lead to contact with the justice system in the first place is unconscionable. Everyone deserves a second chance–to find a job, to get an apartment, to go to school, and to vote. Probation and parole are not the kiss of civic death. They are a sanction to help correct and rehabilitate a person who has made a mistake.

SB 370 will be heard by the Constitutional Amendments Committee on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 21, 2009 in Sacramento. If you live in California, please show your opposition to the bill by contacting your state senator. Express to them that this inherently biased legislation is bound to decrease public confidence in the legitimacy of our civic processes. It is also mean-spirited and antithetical to best practices with regard to the reentry of formerly incarcerated people, which support an opportunity for redemption as a part of the rehabilitation process.

Copyright 2009 Monique W. Morris

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