Felons in the United States lose many of their rights after a conviction. In addition to the more well-known losses of the rights to bear arms and vote, felons also cannot serve on a jury, live in certain places or adopt children. There are those who question whether America is too strict when it comes to felons, and South Carolina residents might wish to know more about this topic.
Judicial system errors could lead to felony convictions for people who have not committed a crime. More than 2.3 million people are incarcerated in American prisons. One estimate puts wrongful conviction rates at between 2-10% of all convictions. This could translate to more than 200,000 innocent people behind bars.
Another challenge facing felons is that it may be easy for some to conclude that being convicted of a crime makes one a bad person, which could lead to less interest in the welfare of prisoners and felons. However, some argue that anyone could be a felon when governments have too much power while individuals are denied rights when convicted of crimes.
The vague nature of some laws and the numerous amount of laws could also lead to problems. One federal crime involves being too loud at a post office while another law prohibits taking cucumbers outside of the Carolinas. While they may not be strictly enforced, this shows that there are laws in place for relatively harmless acts. When facing criminal charges, many people are cited with more than one offense. This increases the likelihood of conviction and could also make the consequences more severe. One strategy a criminal defense attorney might use could involve negotiating to remove some charges as part of a plea agreement with the prosecutor.