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Convictions block too many from voting and jobs, Civil Rights Commission says

Felony convictions can haunt people long after they've served their time, limiting access to everything from voting rights to housing. A report out Wednesday from the U.S. Civil Rights Commission says these "collateral consequences" have too much impact on convicts after they have reentered society.

More than 620,000 are released from prisons each year and are then subject to a variety of "invisible punishments" limiting their opportunities and rights. Many of those, the commission concluded, have nothing to do with the crimes committed.


"When the collateral consequences are unrelated in this way, their imposition generally negatively affects public safety and the public good," Commission Chair Catherine Lhamon wrote in a letter to President Trump and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The commission's majority offered eight recommendations, including:

  • Public safety should be the focus of any collateral consequences.
  • Laws should be reviewed to ensure they effectively reduce recidivism and protect the community.
  • Restrictions on food stamps should be eliminated and restrictions on public housing limited.
  • Nonviolent criminal records should eventually be sealed from public view.

The report cited the decision by Florida voters last year to restore voting rights to felons as a prime example of countermanding such collateral consequences. But the report was finalized before the Republican-run state Legislature passed a measure creating hurdles for felons registering including paying all restitution, court costs and fines. GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to soon sign the bill.

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The Sanctuary City Debate: Understanding Federal-Local Divide in Immigration Enforcement
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Immigration is governed by a patchwork of federal laws. Within the patchwork, one notable thread of law lies in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The Act authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) programs, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to work in tandem with local agencies and law enforcement on deterrence and enforcement efforts. Like the now-discontinued Secure Communities program that encouraged information sharing between local police agencies and ICE, the law specifically authorizes ICE to work with local and federal partners to detain and deport removal-eligible immigrants from the country.

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In this follow-up, we turn our focus to one of the most consequential—and quietly unfolding—chapters of that blueprint: Funding cuts from NPR and PBS.

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New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

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New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

Heads turned when 33-year-old state legislator Zohran Mamdani knocked off Andrew Cuomo, a former governor from one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent families. The earliest polls for the mayoral primary this winter found Mamdani struggling to reach even 1 percent.

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