Twelve Ways to Democratize the U.S. Political System: Ninth

9. End discrimination in the criminal justice system.

Discrimination in the criminal justice system distorts democracy. As our judicial system continues to arrest, prosecute, and convict people of color at disproportionately higher rates than whites, and incarcerated people are barred from exercising their rights to vote, communities of color are further marginalized. Twelve states ban former prisoners from voting for life. No other country in the world permanently disenfranchises ex-offenders. Close to four million Americans are now excluded from the political process, including roughly 13 percent of the country's African American men. We need to repeal laws that disenfranchise former prisoners to allow them to have a stake in the democratic process.