Amendment 4 – Voting restoration for felons – An opinion

James T. Hurley
City of Fernandina Beach
Chief of Police
October 4, 2018 5:45 p.m.

For those that have completed their felony sentences, parole and probation conditions, (excluding murderers and sex offenders), there really is no means by which they might regain full status as citizens, because the current system of reviewing individual cases in Florida is broken. For that reason alone, Amendment 4 deserves to be supported in November.

As a police officer with nearly forty years of experience, I have been mostly focused on holding people accountable for their actions. In fact, as a violent crimes detective in South Florida I was personally responsible for shepherding several hundred people into the prison system. I was commended in 1987 after making more than 100 felony arrests that year alone, and in 1991 I authored Florida’s Home Invasion Robbery statute to address a unique crime trend.

During the better part of the last five decades I have also worked to address the causes of crime and to reduce crime through the application of community policing concepts and other methods. As a police manager I have been engaged in countless community discussions focused on reducing the crime rate by positively impacting those affected by poverty, drugs, homelessness, and related social issues.

Many people suggest that those convicted of felony crimes have demonstrated poor decision-making skills and therefore cannot be trusted to make important political choices at the voting booth. However, this discussion is not always about bad decisions as much as desperate decisions, fueled by drug addiction, lack of education, unemployment, frustration with the system, and despair over ones station in life. Most importantly, these bad and desperate decisions have consequences which require that criminals pay a debt as ordered by a judge.

I know how hard it is for those caught up in the criminal justice system to get their lives straightened out. They are clearly helped emotionally and psychologically by the incentive of “being restored,” of being whole citizens again. Being trusted again to vote in a free society is a huge step forward and helps to distance individuals from a life of crime and poor decision making. Is that not a responsible goal for our communities to help individuals achieve?

Without question, communities will be safer if voting rights are restored for those that have paid their debt to society by serving their prison sentences, including parole or probation, because recidivism rates are found to be reduced for those individuals. I support Amendment 4 because I believe that individuals should be afforded the dignity of acceptance once they have satisfied that debt. And I believe in giving people a second chance at living productive, meaningful lives. Forgiveness is a powerful grace that works on both the giver and the receiver. Shouldn’t we be focused on rehabilitating lives?