Jazz Hayden, Riverside Church Prison Ministry Campaign To End The New Jim Crow, Lee Roland, counsel with the Democracy Program's Voting Rights Elections Team at the Brennan Center for Justice
The New Jim Crow: Purging the African American Vote by Felon Disenfranchisement with Jazz Hayden, Riverside Church Prison Ministry Campaign To End The New Jim Crow Today, nearly five million Americans are barred by law from voting at all because of a felony conviction. (A felony is any crime that carries a sentence of a year or more in prison.) More than 1 in 50 adults can't vote. And because of the racial imbalance in the criminal justice system, 1.4 million black men are disenfranchised. That's 13 percent of the African-American male population, a figure seven times the national average. The laws vary from state to state. For example, in Maine, a convicted murderer may vote while still in prison, but in Virginia, someone arrested for selling drugs when he was 18 may never vote again. An American suffrage movement-- voting rights for felons -- could make a considerable difference in upcoming elections. **************** Another Aspect of the New Jim Crow: Impeding the Franchise With Lee Roland, counsel with the Democracy Program's Voting Rights and Elections Team at the Brennan Center for Justice
Ahead of the 2012 elections, thereâs been a wave of state legislation tightening restrictions on voting that has swept across the country. It's been estimated that more than 5 million Americans could be affected by the new rules in place this year â which is a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last 3 presidential elections. Lee Roland counsel discusses this manifestation of the new Jim Crow.
produced by Ken Nash and Mimi Rosenberg
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