ABSTRACT
This research evaluates whether felony disenfranchisement is compatible with international human rights law. The objective is to highlight the clearly outdated and illegal practice of felony disenfranchisement under international human rights law. To achieve this purpose, the research relies on a multidisciplinary investigation to analyse felony disenfranchisement policies and their impacts. After examining the troubling assumptions of felony disenfranchisement, this research focusses on the legal impropriety of the denial of prisoners’ voting rights based on the concept of ‘reasonable restrictions’ under existing customary international law. This research concludes that criminal disenfranchisement is a stereotypical form of payback which is markedly disproportional and inadequate and therefore contradictory to international human rights law.
KEYWORDS:
Felony disenfranchisement, international human rights law, human rights, right to vote, unreasonable restrictions, incompatibility.
