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Wednesday, December 25, 2024

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Trump vows to pursue executions after Biden commutes most of the federal death row; Mississippi group working in 71 counties to end homelessness in Mississippi; Farmers no longer feeling Farm Bill anguish, but relief might be fleeting; Addressing Montana's expanding 'news deserts.'

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President-elect Donald Trump considers reclaiming Panama Canal. Lawmakers are uncertain Trump's cabinet will help everyday Americans and, advocates feel Biden must reconsider clemency actions.

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Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

Study highlights felony voting ban in NC and beyond amid election results

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Thursday, November 7, 2024   

With the 2024 election concluded, Donald Trump is poised to become the first president to take office while several criminal cases against him are pending. This unprecedented situation is highlighting disparities in the criminal justice system, especially regarding voting rights. New research from The Sentencing Project reveals that nearly 4 million people across the country won't be able to vote in future elections because of a felony conviction. In North Carolina, the report shows nearly 70,000 people are affected.

Nicole D. Porter, senior director of advocacy with The Sentencing Project, said the national total has come down since it peaked in 2016, but still, four million Americans are disenfranchised.

"Now, many of those people are completing their sentence inside of prison and jail." she said. "But many people are disenfranchised living in the community after incarceration. They're either on community supervision, on felony probation or parole, or they are post-sentence."

In 2022, a state court affirmed a ruling by a three-judge panel that restored voting rights to people on probation and parole, potentially allowing tens of thousands to participate in elections. However, in April 2023, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned that decision, again disenfranchising those on community supervision across the state.

The report also highlights racial disparities in felony convictions and reveals that across the country, one in 22 Black people of voting age is disenfranchised, a rate more than triple that of non-African Americans. She added that some Jim Crow-era laws in North Carolina have discriminating practices that keep many Black and brown people from voting in the state.

"Because of the underlying punitive practices that contribute to mass incarceration and over-incarceration in the Black and brown communities, and that extends to even post-incarceration, post-sentence," she continued.

The report also shows new data on women being marginalized because of felony convictions. It estimates nationwide that approximately 764,000 women make up nearly one-fifth of the total disenfranchised population.


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