Proposition 17 would allow inmates to begin voting as soon as their prison sentence ends regardless of any other restrictions such as requirements to wear electronic monitoring devices and parole terms. In California prison is only part of the punishment for committing serious crimes. That punishment also includes parole and the proposition would allow convicted felons to vote while they are restricted to their homes and still on parole just because they are no longer physically present in a prison.
We are open to the idea that felons should be allowed to vote once their full debt to society is repaid but that repayment includes not just prison time but probation and parole time as well. Prop 17 short circuits that and makes the state less safe.
We would prefer a system of restorative justice but we have to work with what we have. And the energy used for Prop 17 should have been used to persuade Californians to adopt such as system but instead it was used to try and give voting rights to people who have not fully repaid society for the crimes they committed.
Therefore Whittier 360 opposes Prop 17.
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