[Long Path]

Yup. Though in my state, drug violations will usually get your license suspended.

There's currently quite the battle going on over what rights a convicted felon should have, once he's served his time and repaid his debt to society. For one thing, there's a felon (who, say, committed his third DWI, or stupidly carried a gun on university campus and got caught, or who got convicted of a major tax evasion), and then there's a FELON (Who's murdered, or committed Aggravated Sexual Assault, or Aggravated Robbery, etc.). Our state, for example, has 5 degrees (Capital, 1st degree, 2nd degree, 3rd degree, State Jail [equivalent of "4th Degree]) of felonies-- would we treat a released 1st degree felon the same as a State Jail releasee? (Presumably, a Capital murder convict never legally sees the light of day.)

And what about voting rights? Should a convicted felon be allowed to vote for Sheriff? For District Attorney? For district judge? Remember, in some sparesely populated areas, these elections are sometimes won on very meager margins. If you get county or precinct full of convicts, what kind of elected government are you going to have?

Should we curtail these rights temporarily, with a sunset to their impositions, say, a decade later?

Take a driver's license from a convict, and in most areas, he can't get to and from work. Now we've denied him of a legal means of transportation to pursue a livelyhood. What are we forcing him into? Should he just be issued an "Occupational License"? (These are licenses that are supposed to restrict driving to the most basic of needs: getting to and from work, worship, food buying, school. They obviously get abused heavily.)

These and other questions weigh heavily. Please check the Legal & Political Forum to weigh in or read more on this thread, as that's where I'm moving it.

L.P.