Undermining Individual and Collective Citizenship: The Impact of Exclusion Laws on the African-American Community

I. Introduction II. Conceptualizing Citizenship A. The Process of Citizenship B. The Practice of Citizenship C. The Parts of Citizenship III. Impact of Felon Exclusion Laws A. The Exclusion Laws i. Denying the Vote ii. Barred from Serving in a Representative Capacity iii. Striking Potential Jurors iv. Public and Private Employment and Occupational Licensing Restrictions B. Impact of the Exclusions on the Individual C. Impact on the African-American Community i. Silencing the Collective Voice and Diminishing Representative Choice ii. A Priori Jury Pool Bias iii. No Employment, No Capital--Social or Financial IV. "Sweet Home Alabama," But Not for Ex-Felons V. Automatic Restoration of Rights for Ex-Felons A. Exclusion Laws Violate the Fourteenth Amendment B. Legislative Action Needed for Automatic Restoration of Ex-Felon's Rights VI. Conclusion The most heartrending deprivation o fall is the inequality of status that excludes people from full membership in the community, degrading them by labeling them as outsiders, denying them their very selves. (1) I. INTRODUCTION Felon exclusion laws (2) are jurisdiction-specific, post-conviction statutory restrictions that prohibit convicted felons from exercising a host of legal rights, most notably the right to vote. (3) The professed intent of these laws is to punish convicted felons equally without regard for the demographic characteristics of each individual, including race, class, or gender. (4) Felon exclusion laws, however, have a disproportionate impact on African-American males and, by extension, on the residential communities from which many convicted felons come. Thus, felon exclusion laws not only relegate African-American convicted felons to a position of second-class citizenship, but the laws also diminish the collective citizenship (5) of many African-American communities. Upon conviction of a felony, generally defined as "a serious crime ... punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or death," (6) the individual becomes a member of the convicted felon status group. While all persons convicted of a felony are members of this status group, (7) not all convicted felons have the same relationship to the criminal justice system, thus I have created the following typology to characterize those relationships. The convicted felon status group can be divided into the following two categories--felons and ex-felons--where the status of the former is predicated on some type of control and the latter is not. Specifically, felons have not satisfied the requirements associated with their sentences and thus remain under the auspices of the criminal justice system. The felon category can be further divided into those persons that are incarcerated, (8) on probation, (9) or on parole. (10) By contrast, ex-felons have completed their entire sentences, and are no longer under the direction and control of the criminal justice system. Membership in the convicted felon status group comes with many disabilities, not least of which is the infringement upon the right to vote. A felony conviction, however, can also be used to deny additional rights or serve as a basis to terminate existing relationships, (11) For example, depending upon the jurisdiction, a convicted felon can be prohibited from serving on a jury, obtaining public employment, holding public office, or owning a firearm, (12) Moreover, a felony conviction can be cited as a reason to terminate a convicted felon's marriage or parental rights, and can require a convicted felon to register with local law enforcement officials. (13) Felon exclusion laws undermine a convicted felon's full citizenship. Within the convicted felon status group, ex-felons possess the strongest legal and moral claim for having their rights restored automatically upon the completion of their sentences. …