Loss of rights due to felony conviction

Loss of rights due to felony conviction takes many forms. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

this includes disenfranchisement. exclusion from Jury duty

Jury duty

Jury duty is service as a juror in a legal proceeding. When a person is called for jury duty in the United States, that service is usually not optional: one must attend or face strict penalties. Employers are not allowed to fire an employee simply for being called to jury duty...

, and loss of the right to possess firearms.

Disenfranchisement

In the USA, every state except Maine and Vermont prohibits felons from voting while in prison.
Nine other states disenfranchise ex-felons for various lengths of time following the completion of their probation or parole.
Two states, Kentucky and Virginia, continue to impose a life-long denial of the right to vote to all citizens with a felony record, in the absence of some extraordinary intervention by the Governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

or state legislature.

Felon jury exclusion

The lifetime exclusion of felons from jury service is the majority rule in the U.S., used in thirty one states and in federal courts. The result is that over 6% of the adult population is excluded, including about 30% of black men, creating a class of citizens defined and punished by the criminal justice system but unable to impact its function. Felon jury exclusion is less visible than felony disenfranchisement, and few socio-legal scholars have challenged the statutes that withhold a convicted felon’s opportunity to sit on a jury. While constitutional challenges to felon jury exclusion almost always originate from interested litigants, some scholars contend that "it is the interests of the excluded felons that are most directly implicated." Yet, attacks on these blanket prohibitions levied by excluded felon jurors have failed consistently. The United States Supreme Court does not recognize the right to sit on a jury as fundamental. It has been pointed out that, although lawmakers assert that felon jury exclusion measures protect the integrity of the adjudicative process, as felons “lack the requisite probity” to serve on a jury and are “inherently biased,” many of the states subscribing to this practice allow felons to practice law.

The U.S. Department of Justice has argued that felon jury exclusion laws do not discriminate against the disabled because there is no evidence that drug addicts as a class are convicted of felonies in any greater number than other classes of felons.

Loss of right to possess firearms

Felons are regarded by the Federal Government

Federal government of the United States

The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

, and most US states, as being "prohibited persons" under US law . It is a class C felony

Classes of offenses under United States federal law

The classes of offenses under United States federal law are as follows:References-See also:*Special assessment on convicted persons*Supervised release*Probation and supervised release under United States federal law‎...

punishable by up to 10 years in prison.