I think that criminals should be able to vote, because they are still part of society, even though they might be locked up somewhere in a prison cell, unable to get out. I believe that voting is one of the fundamental rights that cannot be taken away from one person, because even though they are criminals, after release they will be governed by the party they vote for. This would also help the criminal's rehabilitation, because it would make them feel as it they are still part of the society, even though they are in prison. It would make them less prone to offending the law again and would help them mentally.

Furthermore, even though criminals are law offenders, they haven't lost their power to make a good decision. You could say they're going to make a "bad vote", but the thing is in an election, there's no such thing as a bad vote. You have 2-3 choices. All three choices want to help the country. I don't see how the criminal can take the election and use it to deal harm on the country - it's not possible. Furthermore, these criminals are adults with some level of education, so it would be better than having children tipping the votes for an election.

As Australians, we are all given the rights to vote, since we are all human beings and share different opinions. Now, if the everybody thinks differently then we should certainly take thought to their thoughts and ideas. JUST because these are crime offenders, doesn't mean their own personal opinion in the votes are wrong. Criminals are placed in jail so that they can redeems themselves, and yet all the government is doing is caging them in, restricting them from their rights as citizens of Australia.They are humans, just like us, and should certainly be allowed to vote.

at the very minimum people who have been released from prison should be allowed to vote since they should not be forced to pay taxation without a voice in their representation.

Here is the thing that irks me about disenfranchisement of criminals. They are still part of society; they are still affected by the governmental policy. It's still wrong to remove someones voice even if they have wronged you. A government needs to be able to make policy that will be good for the most people; if you cut a large position of the population out you lose a big chunk of that voice. It is not the duty of the government to dwell out unjust punishment.

If the laws of society still apply to a criminal, then they should still be allowed to vote, because they are a part of that society and should not feel barred from it like an outsider.

yes i think criminals should be allowed to vote because every adult has the right and their votes would count and make a big difference

Even criminals committed serious crimes,

people should not forget the fact that they are part of a countries citizen.

The governments role is to protect and guarantee their CITIZENS RIGHTS

By prohibiting criminals right to vote, it means that the government is not doing

its obligation properly.

Let me ask you two questions before I begin.

By TAKING AWAY voting rights for these prisoners, does the society suddenly improve in any way? No.

Then, by letting these prisoners to VOTE, does it harm the society in any way? No.

Let me elaborate on the reasons why.

1. Even if these prisoners’ voting rights are taken away, the society does not suddenly improve and it doesn’t benefit the society. For example, the crime rate in the society will not all of a sudden go down. What creates crime rates in the first place? Crime rates are created by numerous factors, for example, financial status, or lack of education, or family background. One may start stealing because of lack of money. And the other may start deceiving others in order to steal money. Ultimately, people start to commit crimes because of their given circumstances, NOT by allowing these prisoners to vote.

2. Even if they are given the right to vote, it doesn’t harm the society. The opposition team sounds like we the government team will be leading our society into devastation if we start allowing these people to vote, but that is merely a huge assumption. Let’s think about the voting procedure. Who are the candidates? And what kind of policies do they come up with?

Let me give you an example of the FTA between South Korea and the US. One party may vote FOR FTA, saying that it will improve Korea, since Korean Market will be provided with cheaper and wider ranges of various products. The other party will be voting AGAINST FTA, saying that it will harm various industries of Korea, including the agricultural industries.

Whether you vote for Grand National Party’s policy or for Democratic Party’s policy, either way, you will still be attributing your voice to developing the society into a brighter future. The reality in today’s Korean society is not the one with Hitler, or Qaddafi. Within Korea, there is no such thing as killer candidates. There are no candidates who would want to harm the society. Whoever they vote for, it will benefit the society. And all of these imply that prisoners voting will NOT harm the society.

3. The current law

To add on to the 2 reasons why there is no need to take away such rights, I would like to talk about the current law. The current law according to the Constitution is that all citizens in the society should be receiving a yellow envelope full of posters and pamphlets regarding candidates’ policies and information. Not only that, it is also “constitutional and legal” for prison guards to give them information if it is considered as harmless. They may allow prisoners to read newspapers, listen to radios, and have access to information regarding candidates under the condition that they will not be misusing them in criminal activities. Even if prison guards may restrict them from such information and force them to vote for the candidates they like, then this is clearly the fault of the prison guards! This is an act of election crime, which should be harshly punished and penalized! Therefore, because it is legal for prisoners to receive information about the society, there is no reason, once again, to disallow them from voicing out, since we absolutely see no need to deprive of them with such rights.

2. Future benefits

(1) Societal Level

Let’s talk about the characteristics of prisoners and criminals. If you analyze most criminals, they tend to have similar backgrounds. For example, a person may rape someone because of his personal experience of getting raped when he himself was young. Kim Kil Tae is an actual criminal of this case. He himself was hurt physically when living in an orphanage by being sexually abused and that mental trauma deprived of him of acting normal when becoming an adult. Another person may lie, deceive and steal money from others because of poverty. Another person may easily act with violence due to the violent childhood that he had, having been raised by parents who were alcoholics and drug addicts.

I’m not trying to justify their crimes. Of course, these people should be punished for what they have done. However, that is not what I am trying to focus on. When letting these prisoners to vote, they will be reflecting their experiences and opinions to policies. For example, if a criminal has committed a crime related to burglary, he may personally understand all the difficulties of poverty and discrimination that comes from social status. And because of this, he will likely to vote for policies or candidates who seem like they will do their best to try to reduce the problem of inequality in our society. Or he may vote for candidates who care about equal education given to students so that they will not fall behind schoolwork just because of financial difficulties. Therefore, by letting these prisoners to vote, you are allowing these social minorities to benefit by empowering their voices. And by empowering the voices of the neglected ones, you are stepping closer to further developing our society! How is this harmful in anyway?

(2) Individual Level

Also, not only that, by giving these prisoners the right to vote, we are further preventing any possibilities of abuses happening inside the prison. Just like what the opposition team is saying, they are so easily saying that these people should NOT be given the right to vote and DO NOT deserve all rights. Likewise, it is so easy to neglect these people, since they are considered as CRIMINALS in the first place. Now, then who is going to represent these people’s voices IF there is a problem happening inside the prison? What if prison guards maltreat and physically, verbally abuse these people? What if there are problems with sanitation?

If there are such problems, there will be a very big likelihood that these people will continue to be neglected and ignored, by just branding them as CRIMINALS. This means that in a democratic society, the basic right to live like a HUMAN can be abused and manipulated.

However, by allowing these people to vote, the basic HUMAN RIGHTS will be protected because when candidates become politicians, by having received some votes by these prisoners as well as other citizens, then the politicians would HAVE to consider about the well-being for all people that had supported them, INCLUDING these prisoners. And because of that, the basic conditions to live like a human being inside the prison, and the treatment they receive will constantly be watched by the politicians, thus upholding the fundamental values of democracy. Once again, we are not saying they should receive luxurious treatment. What we are saying is that conditions to help them LIVE and TREATED like a human being, that BASIC treatment can be recognized by these people having a right to voice, ladies and gentlemen.

If a criminal can get a college degree while in prison, then I see no reason why he or she can't vote.

I agree with everyone on this page, and yes, including the people on the other side. I think that's cuz the whole topics like COOL. I mean, criminals man, thats jst, cool man. so ya. And I think criminal's shd be allowed to vote but also not allowed to vote at the same time, u no wt im saying? and.. y im saying that is first of all, i'm jst awesome, and so r my friends, and we're jst cool, and we love red necks, we're jst cool that way. Yeah. And i dont even no wt the sh*t im talking bout here, im in frkn science class on my teachers laptop searching history stuff(or wtever subject this argument thingy belongs in) and ya.. y'all have fun, and keep it up with all the amazin posts guys, ur awesome. u guys r cool man.