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Well,

Once a convict has been punished his civil rights should be restored. The United States is one of the few modern nations that still revoke civil rights for life from a felony conviction.

If I were a convicted felon in this country, with no hope of getting my rights back no matter how clean I lived no matter how hard I tried, with no abilitiy to get a decent job.

Why should I even try to obey the law when I will pay for it for the rest of my life no matter what.

It seems to me that of you are going to let a person out of prison it is only fair to give them a shot at redemption.

Otherwise you should just kill all felons and be done with it.

We should work to have most criminal records expunged after a certain period of time (not a pardon) so at least ex-cons would have abetter chance at improving their lives and get a chance to live clean. An exception to this would be for very violent crimes.

"If I were a convicted felon in this country, with no hope of getting my rights back no matter how clean I lived no matter how hard I tried, with no abilitiy to get a decent job.

Why should I even try to obey the law when I will pay for it for the rest of my life no matter what.

It seems to me that of you are going to let a person out of prison it is only fair to give them a shot at redemption. "

I have known several ex-convicts in my life. Each of them has found a good job and is living within the law. Of course, I also know that many do not do so.

Yes, there should be some means available to regain one's lost rights. In most states, such means exist, on the state level. It's not easy, but I don't think it should be easy. One of the reasons that rights are removed is as a deterrent. It may be a lousy deterrent, but that's one of the reasons. Losing the right to vote doesn't seem to matter much, since only a minority of eligible voters bothers to vote at all.

Getting the right back of a convicted felon to own firearms, however, should, I believe, be limited to only those who have not committed any violent offense, and I include spousal or child abuse in that category. Frankly, I'm not willing to let violent felons _ever_ own firearms. It just doesn't make any sense.

Of course, the real answer is not to commit any felonies. By doing that, you avoid all the problems, it seems to me.

Once a convict has been punished his civil rights should be restored. The United States is one of the few modern nations that still revoke civil rights for life from a felony conviction.

Sure. Larry Singleton and Richard Allen Davis would approve.