Clemency board considers restoring rights for ex-felons

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Wed, Jun. 16, 2004

Clemency board considers restoring rights for ex-felons

BRENT KALLESTAD
Associated Press


TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet could clear a backlog of nearly 125,000 ex-felons seeking to have their civil rights restored at a clemency hearing Thursday, an administration spokeswoman said.

However, not all of the former felons will immediately regain their rights, which include voting.

"Those with the most serious offenses will still have to go through a hearing process before the governor and clemency board," Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj said Wednesday. "But many other felons who have served their time will have their rights restored."

Randy Berg, executive director of the Florida Justice Institute, said the board could repeal its rule requiring further hearings for some ex-felons and automatically restore the rights of the entire group, as Former Gov. Reubin Askew and the Cabinet did in 1975.
(snip)

Berg said 616,000 former felons were disenfranchised in the 2000 election in Florida.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8939242.htm
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[rfranklin]

1. "former felons" is the key phrase...

If they served their sentence, why should they be tried again based on the type of crime they committed?

[Mr.Green93]

2. including Second Amendment rights?

[No Mandate Here.]

3. 3.8 % of the population of Florida are former felons?

or more? Is this possible and typical?

[Florida_Geek]

4. But this is Jeb's Florida.,,,, let me guess

if you are a middle age white male convicted of child sex abuse, you get them back in his idea, but if you are a black male, you have to go thru more loops.

Just a wild guess on my part. :evilgrin:

[mom cat]

7. Maybe Jeb sees how loony Georgie is and thinks that he could win Florida

and the US if Georgie goes up like a suicide bomb. The Repubs have got to be looking for replacements for the current crooks. If Jeb looks magnanimous.... WHO knows. Just a guess.

[kerrycrat2k4]

5. Bush Polled Ahead In Florida For The First Time Today

We need to do whatever it takes to get voters out and if that means changing the laws to meet our purpose then so be it.

[Doctor Smith]

6. I can think of no legitimate reason why felons, former or otherwise,

are prevented from voting. Maybe if felons were allowed to vote, something would be done about the sorry and despicable state of our criminal "justice" system.