NACDL Launches Publicly Available Restoration of Rights Database

10-24-2012 National:

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is pleased to offer as both a resource for its members and as a service to the general public, a collection of individual downloadable documents that profile the law and practice in each U.S. jurisdiction relating to relief from the numerous civil rights and other consequences of criminal conviction. NACDL today launches this new section of its online Resource Center to house NACDL member and former U.S. Pardon Attorney (1990-97) Margaret Colgate Love’s comprehensive work on this topic in a user-friendly format. It promises to be an indispensable guide for defense lawyers as well as members of the public affected by the collateral consequences of a conviction and those re-entering society or the workforce after a conviction.

As a result of the twin crises of overcriminalization and mass imprisonment in the United States, the population that can be served by this tremendous new resource is, sadly, enormous. Currently, there are some 2.3 million people behind bars in America, more than in any other nation on earth. The U.S. also leads the world in prisoners per capita at approximately one in every 100 adults. And with more than 4,500 federal crimes on the books and tens of thousands more in the regulations, not to mention the endless libraries of state and local criminal offenses, it is no surprise that it is reported that some 65 million people, or one in four Americans, have an arrest or conviction record.

This new resource offers free assistance to those tens of millions of people and their lawyers, offering an interactive map with individual profiles summarizing the law and practice in each U.S. jurisdiction and the federal system regarding relief from the collateral consequences of conviction, including obtaining a pardon, expungement and the restoration of civil rights. Click on a jurisdiction and you will get a short summary and a full profile detailing that jurisdiction’s law relating to both the loss and restoration of civil rights and firearms privileges and discussing any provisions on non-discrimination in employment and licensing. These materials will be an enormous aid to lawyers in minimizing the collateral consequences suffered by clients and in restoring their rights and privileges.

In addition to the jurisdictional profiles, there is a set of charts covering all 50 states plus territories and the federal system, that provide a side by side comparison that makes it possible to see national patterns in restoration laws and policies.

“This incredible project is but one of Margaret Love’s tremendous contributions to the extensive work of NACDL’s Task Force on the Restoration of Rights and Status After Conviction. This NACDL task force is in the midst of two years of hearings across America. NACDL will release this groundbreaking study upon the conclusion of the hearings detailing the many ways in which even a conviction for a low-level crime can have lasting, life-changing and even life-long effects in innumerable contexts,” said NACDL President Steven D. Benjamin. “NACDL believes that a rational and humane criminal justice system requires that offenders who have served their time be able to successfully reintegrate into society. A guide such as this to aid in the restoration of one’s rights is essential.”

A team of pro bono attorneys at the firm of Crowell & Moring LLP, led by partner Harry P. Cohen, provided significant assistance with this project, as did a number of law students from the Washington College of Law at American University and the University of Toledo School of law. Detailed acknowledgements are provided on the project’s home page, which is now live and publicly available at www.nacdl.org/rightsrestoration. ..Source.. by NACDL Press Release

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FL- Voting Rights Elude Some Florida Ex-Felons, Study Says

It appears that, as to sex offenders completeling their sentences before this new -restoration of rights procedure-, this violates the ex post facto clauses for them esp since it is based on their conviction, as is everyone else. Excepting murder, as to others they can apply and have rights restored. Has a hint of discrimination as well.

3-11-2009 Florida:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— Florida’s procedures for restoring voting rights to convicted felons are so cumbersome, bureaucratic and confusing that some ex-convicts are being denied their rights, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

Most election officials throughout the state are unsure about who can win back their voting rights, the report found.

Florida is among a handful of states that do not permit automatic restoration of rights once someone has been released from prison. In 2007, Gov. Charlie Crist pushed through new procedures to speed up the process for most felons seeking voting rights. The new process does not apply to murderers and sex offenders.

More than 138,000 people had their rights restored between April 2007 and March 2009, but the A.C.L.U. said it was concerned that thousands of additional voters might not know what to do because of widespread confusion over the new eligibility rules.

The group got conflicting answers when it surveyed the offices of all 67 election supervisors in the state. Employees in six county elections offices, for example, told callers, wrongly, that someone convicted of a misdemeanor was ineligible to vote. The survey also showed that nearly half incorrectly asserted that felons needed to produce paperwork showing they had their rights restored in order to register.

“It’s very hard for anyone to know what’s going on,” said Muslima Lewis, a senior lawyer for the A.C.L.U. of Florida, who wrote the report. “The rules are convoluted and hard to understand.”

Taiwan Daniels, 28, who lives in Broward County, lost his rights after he was convicted on a cocaine charge when he was 16. He spent a year trying to get his rights restored before he succeeded in October, and called the process more “discouraging than encouraging.”

The A.C.L.U. is calling on Florida to automatically restore voting rights to hundreds of thousands of former prisoners in the state. The report also recommends waiving a requirement that a convicted felon first pay off court-ordered restitution.

Mr. Crist said Wednesday that “more can be done” to improve the process. But he said Florida was “on the right path.”

“I think we have done more in the past two years to restore the rights of former felons than we have done in the rest of the history of Florida,” Mr. Crist said.

Florida’s effort to keep felons from voting has been a flashpoint in recent years. Thousands were purged from the state’s voting rolls before the 2000 presidential election, even though there were questions about the accuracy of the list of ineligible voters.

The state scrapped plans for another purge in 2004 after newspapers pointed out flaws with the list, including that the list had virtually no Hispanics on it. ..News Source.. by GARY FINEOUT

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