Not Letting Felons Vote Damages Democracy for All Citizens

AUSTIN SARAT

Austin Sarat— Associate Provost, Associate Dean of the Faculty, and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College—argues that disenfranchising felons, as most American states do in some way, does substantial harm to everyone in our democracy. Sarat praises a recent decision by a federal district court in Florida striking down a state law requiring people with serious criminal convictions to pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote, but he cautions that but much more needs to be done to ensure that those who commit serious crimes can exercise one of the essential rights of citizenship.

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United States v. Withers

Docket: 17-3448

Opinion Date: May 28, 2020

Judge: Brennan

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Withers trafficked women and girls for sex. After months of abuse, several victims were identified by law enforcement. Withers was arrested and charged with nine counts of sex trafficking. The government proposed jury instructions on four of those counts that would have allowed Withers to be found guilty if he either knew or recklessly disregarded that force, threats of force, or coercion would be used to cause the women to engage in commercial sex acts. The “recklessly disregarded” mens rea element was absent, however, from the superseding indictment against Withers. The district court ruled, and the parties agreed, that the jury instructions would not include that phrase. Nonetheless, at trial, the court’s instructions included this phrase, and neither the court nor the parties recognized the error. A jury found Withers guilty on all counts. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the four convictions that included inaccurate instructions. While the jury instructions were plainly wrong, the error did not affect Withers’ substantial rights or otherwise prejudice his trial. The “jury was presented with overwhelming evidence of Withers’ knowledge and more than sufficient facts to convict Withers of the offenses charged in the four challenged counts.”