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Prohibiting people that have been duly and rightfully convicted of a crime, wherein their First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendment rights have not been infringed during a fair trial by a jury of their peers, when their sentence commences shall have such rights revoked for a period of the length of their sentence (some cases being life), for actions that are considered a crime against society, should not be afforded the same rights that citizens who have not committed crimes, and who have not been found guilty by a fair trial by a jury of their peers.
The Thirteenth Amendment states that:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
as well at the Fourteenth:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
clearly state that those under conviction do not have the rights as those who are free. Which is why it is imperative that the courts do everything in their power to assess that the accused and his or her crime and evidence thereof is fully examined, and that the court follows the proper procedure as to not wrongly convict an innocent (with advanced technology like forensics, this is becoming almost a non-existent issue).
Another thing to consider, that I hold a more personal opinion of, is that those that are convicted and serving their time, be barred from voting in elections, so that when they are finished with their particular sentence, they will come to greatly appreciate the idea of voting whether or not they participated in the practice before their tenure.
As for the general idea that voting is a form of speech/expression, I certainly agree that it is, and should be protected at all costs from infringement on free voting citizens.