Should prisoner's have the right to vote?

I just read about this on AOL, but it was a discussion about letting currently imprisoned citizens vote ( felons aside-they already cannot vote). What do you think?

My opinion: I think they should be able to vote. They lost their right to be an...

active physical member of the world. But they still have rights.

Whats sad is prisoners CAN vote and have no idea they have the right if they in prison. They need to educate them on their rights.

I think taking their right to vote is just one of the many freedoms that prisoners choose to give up when they commit their crimes.

A murder is a felon though, they would not be able to vote no matter what the situation. I'm talking about people in there for misdeminors (spelt that so wrong)

I don't think those whom have ignored, violated, abused the rules and laws that all of the rest of us have adhered to should have many rights at all.

Don't you think you pay enough for the imprisoned anyway that educating them of their rights might just cost you more. Does anyone educate you of all your rights or are you responsible to educate yourself? I don't want to pay financially or otherwise for others mistakes. That is what prisons are for anyway to give them consquences for their actions and to get them away from society.

Don't you think you pay enough for the imprisoned anyway that educating them of their rights might just cost you more
I dont see how telling the prisoner's that they have the right to vote, will cost you anything.

Does anyone educate you of all your rights or are you responsible to educate yourself?
That all depends on the person you are talking about. Some people are tought theirs, while other's are left to fend for themselves. Why is it their fault if they have never learned what their rights are. You dont know their background.

That is what prisons are for anyway to give them consquences for their actions and to get them away from society.
They are away from society, and they are dealing with the consequnces. I do think that the should have the right to vote, because one day they will be a member of society again, some of them very soon, so I think they should have a say in things because it will affect them also.

I dont know!!! I suppose it is part of their punishment yet I suppose maybe not letting them vote will affect the campaign and not be a fair result

I am not sure how many people are actually in jail for commiting crimes that are not felonies. I would think not that many. If a misdemeanor conviction involves jail time, it is probably going to be for a realatively short period of time, so this will only affect someone whose jail time is around election day. Since they are not on a felons list, they can probably still vote via absentee ballot. Do you know of any actual cases where this is happening? The only other people being detained who are not felons, would be someone who is awaiting a trial and couldn't get out on bail. Until someone is convicted of a felony, they have every right to vote.

I think when you decide to violate the 'traditional' rules for being a citizen, such as abiding the law, then you loose all right to have those rights.

are you saying that one crime is acceptable and another isn't, no one can judge what is more severe, other than the person whom the crime was commited on. so for you to say 'this is ok, you can still vote' is completly wrong, a crime is a crime, full stop, and as a result, you should lose all rights, otherwise whats' the point, in my opinion, prisoners still get a lot of privalidges, especially since everyone else has to 'live by the rules' and a lot of those people don't have the luxuries a lot of prisonsers get!

so if you can say, honestly, that one crime is any less wrong than another, then fine, but it's not true, you break the law, it's black and white, there is now 'grey' area!

are you saying that one crime is acceptable and another isn't, no one can judge what is more severe,

Actually yes, I would say that murder is less acceptable than say, stealing.

so if you can say, honestly, that one crime is any less wrong than another, then fine, but it's not true, you break the law, it's black and white

Difference of opinions then, because to me, murder is way worse than stealing, or selling marijuana, etc.

no one can judge what is more severe

Not true. It is the job of legislators who make the laws to judge the severity of a crime and its appropriate punishment, and it is the job of a judge and jury to enforce it.

so if you can say, honestly, that one crime is any less wrong than another, then fine, but it's not true, you break the law, it's black and white, there is now 'grey' area!

Less wrong? I guess technically something is either wrong or right. So no you can't be less wrong. Kind of like being a little pregnant. But some crimes are certainly less heineous than others. Just the fact that we have different clasiification for the severity of crimes (felony, misdemeanor, violatio, etc..) proves that. Jaywalking is a crime as is murder. While one can argue the merits of allowing the murderer to vote, can you honestly say a jaywalker should have his voting rights taken away?

And there is very little in this world that is black and white. Is all shades of grey.

For misdemeanors, sure, they should still get to vote even if they're in jail.

See editor's statement. Ditto

By the way, voting is not a right, it is a privilege we have in this democracy.

By the way, voting is not a right, it is a privilege we have in this democracy.

That's nonsense. Voting is a right, and yes people who have committed misdemeanors should be allowed to vote.

I do tend to agree with you that if it is a minor crime than the prisoner should be allowed to vote.
After all what if they only have two years to serve in jail, well the president getting elected right now will still be in office when the prisoner gets out, and he/she had no vote as to who is in there.
Now on the other hand, a Felon rape/murder/etc... now right or wrong I don't think they should have any rights at all!
Just my two cent's

prisoners should be able to vote. even if they broke the law they are a canadian citizen all canadian citizens have the rights to vote