BE RESPONSIBLE ABOUT FELONS' RIGHTS

The campaign to automatically restore civil rights to nearly all
felons upon release from prison, with no waiting period and no
hearing to determine if those felons will go right back to a life of
crime, is reckless and irresponsible.

As a matter of justice, respect for crime victims and public safety,
Florida takes away the rights of convicted felons to vote, sit on a
jury or engage in a state-licensed occupation. Felons lose these
rights for a lifetime unless Cabinet officers, sitting as the
Clemency Board, agree to restore them. The 11th Circuit Court of
Appeals upheld Florida's law in 2005, finding it does not violate the
U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection clause or the Voting Rights Act.

Florida's Constitution and rules currently provide a safety-conscious
process to consider restoring a felon's rights. Felons convicted of
less serious crimes may have their rights restored without a hearing.
Today, the majority of felons receive restoration of civil rights
once their sentences are complete.

But to make sure they remain crime-free and arrest-free once their
sentences are served, most felons convicted of serious crimes must
wait five years before their civil rights may be restored without a
hearing under the current clemency rules. The proposal soon coming
before the Clemency Board would regrettably eliminate this critical
waiting period for all but a few.

The revolving-door effect of restoring felons' rights only then to
revoke them due to a new criminal offense would diminish the
integrity of our democratic government and the rule of law. According
to the Florida Department of Corrections, nearly 40 percent of
offenders commit another crime within three years of release and 45
percent do so within five years.

The proposal to automatically restore civil rights when leaving
prison would restore rights without providing a reasonable period of
time to determine if felons are truly rehabilitated or still leading
a life of crime. It would include felons who committed heinous
offenses such as child pornography, kidnapping and luring a child,
armed robbery, carjacking and home invasion, aggravated stalking,
aggravated assault, and even battery on a police officer. The
proposal would include some of society's most dangerous offenders:
habitual violent career criminals.

Felons will be able to acquire a state-licensed job, whether as a
household pest-control exterminator, residential-building contractor
or alarm-system installer, allowing felons to regularly access
people's homes. They will be eligible to sit on a jury to carry out
our system of justice. Felons will have the same vote at the ballot
box as law- abiding citizens.

Rather than automatically restore rights to violent repeat offenders,
we should ensure fairness in the clemency process by immediately
eliminating the backlog, as I previously proposed. But for Florida's
serious career criminals, this motto ought to apply: A person who
breaks the law should not make the law.

Bill McCollum is attorney general for the state of Florida.