This is just crazy. 5 years for trying to vote as a felon.

theQuincunx5 said:

For the record: I never accused you of racism.

My comments were more around our JUSTICE system.



And you should note your ERROR here. But then you love your assumption, don't you?

Click to expand...

I don't believe the justice system is racist. In order to believe that you would have to believe that one race or another is less capable of following or understanding the law. I don't believe that. At all.

Hazelelponi said:

I don't believe the justice system is racist. In order to believe that you would have to believe that one race or another is less capable of following or understanding the law. I don't believe that. At all.

Click to expand...

You don't seem to understand what Quincunx5 (accurately) stated.

For the same offenses (i.e. a black kid and a white kid both caught in possession of marijuana), the system disproportionately punishes the black kid. The black offender is much more likely to get jail time and become a felon for the same action that a white kid will get probation for.

This has factually shown to be true. Whether all of the reasons can be boiled down to "racism" isn't necessarily true (economic disparity plays a role), the result is definitely a racially biased justice system.

Your post I've quoted above doesn't even make any sense in the context of a racially unequal justice system.

Hazelelponi said:

I don't believe the justice system is racist. In order to believe that you would have to believe that one race or another is less capable of following or understanding the law. I don't believe that. At all.

Click to expand...

The numbers indicate otherwise.

Whites and Blacks do about the same amount of drug crime, but blacks are many times more likely to be convicted and sent to prison for it.



SOurce: http://www.hamiltonproject.org/char...y_race_rates_of_drug_related_criminal_justice

Hazelelponi said:

It might shock you to know, that felons get their voting rights restored, even in texas, after their sentence is completed. Meaning, once they are off parole.

How many parolees do you want voting, really?

How many politicians do you really want pandering to parolees anyway?

To be up in arms that the people of Texas see parolees voting as a fairly serious offense to civility and treat it accordingly is shocking to me.

She violated the terms of her parole by commiting another felony.. it doesn't matter what any of us think about it, although I'm rather on the side of the state of Texas on this one.

Click to expand...

FYI: https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/voter-restoration/felony-disenfranchisement-laws-map

How can a state make a law that prevents people voting in a Federal election in the first place?

Trogdor the Burninator said:

How can a state make a law that prevents people voting in a Federal election in the first place?

Click to expand...

Voting laws make more sense when you stop thinking of national elections as national elections and start thinking about them as individual states choosing their national representatives. With that mindset, it makes sense that each state would, to some degree, be able to set its own rules for who it allows to vote for its own representatives.

Goonie said:

5 year prison sentences for those who vote mistakenly is clearly aimed at putting of those who are not sure of their voting rights/status. Be serious mistakenly voting should be at most a $250 fine. The fact is that the vote was provisional, and as she failed to meet the requirements ofbeing able to vote it was not counted.

Click to expand...

How does one accidentally vote? When you get out of prison they tell you what you can and cannot do. She was told, she voted anyway.

Goonie said:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...g-texas-woman-crystal-mason-five-years-prison

I know there must have been a thread about this at the time, but one cannot emphasise enough the stupidity and cruelty of the American justice system, seen from the outside.

No wonder voting rates are so low.

Click to expand...

I mean your not wrong, if we started letting criminals vote the voting rates would go up.

TerranceL said:

How does one accidentally vote? When you get out of prison they tell you what you can and cannot do. She was told, she voted anyway.

Click to expand...

She claims that she wasn't told.

Goonie said:

She claims she was not. I would not be shocked if she forgot she was told and just got carried away with the election. The fact is her vote was not counted, she should have been fined the cost of them checking her right to vote, and reported to her parole officer.

Click to expand...

She also may not have realized the full extent of what she was doing or got confused, we don't know her intelligence or limitations. A fine makes sense, but five years imprisonment in an already overcrowded system is barbaric.

JCFantasy23 said:

She also may not have realized the full extent of what she was doing or got confused, we don't know her intelligence or limitations. A fine makes sense, but five years imprisonment in an already overcrowded system is barbaric.

Click to expand...

Not to mention, a huge drain on the economy to stick away a non-violent offender for the crime of voting. I guess Texas has lots of money to waste.

Goonie said:

US voter suppression: why this Texas woman is facing five years' prison

I know there must have been a thread about this at the time, but one cannot emphasise enough the stupidity and cruelty of the American justice system, seen from the outside.

No wonder voting rates are so low.

Click to expand...

Judge Wade Birdwell wrote in his ruling that the state did not have enough evidence to prove that Mason knew she was ineligible to vote when she cast a ballot in the 2016 election.

In a statement, the ACLU of Texas said this acquittal amounts to a "victory for Mason, a Black grandmother from Fort Worth, whose life was upended by the state's aggressive charges."

Click to expand...

What a nightmare!

Goonie said:

I almost forgot I'd started this thread over 4 years ago.

Click to expand...

To think of the time and money this must’ve cost!

Goonie said:

Prosecutor to appeal against Texas woman’s acquittal over voting error

Court ruled last month that Crystal Mason, initially sentenced to five years in prison, did not know she was ineligible to vote in 2016

www.theguardian.com

And off cause they are appealing the acquittal.

Click to expand...

Well, somebody has to go to jail, don't they? Those license plates aren't going to stamp themselves.

Hazelelponi said:

I don't believe the justice system is racist. In order to believe that you would have to believe that one race or another is less capable of following or understanding the law. I don't believe that. At all.

Click to expand...

That's actually the opposite of what you'd "need to believe".

If a race was less capable of following the law then the system would represent that and we would see the race is responsible for their outcomes.

If we believed everyone was equally capable of following the law, we would believe there is inherent injustice built into the system and the results we see would be due to that.