After nearly 157 years of abolition of slavery in the United States, voters in the five states where slavery is still legal as punishment for convicted criminals will decide whether to outlaw the practice outright next month. . Certain loopholes in US laws have resulted in the proliferation of a different type of slavery, “forced labor by people convicted of certain crimes.”
According to CNNWhen slavery was outlawed in America in 1865, the 13th Amendment included an exception.
“Neither servitude nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for the offense of which the party shall be duly convicted, shall exist in any place within the United States of America or subject to their jurisdiction,” the amendment reads.
The news outlet further reported, “It remains on the books in more than a dozen states, even though it hasn’t been implemented since the Civil War.
But next month, voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Vermont, Oregon and Tennessee will be given the opportunity to eliminate punishment from their states’ constitutions once and for all, according to one. CNN Review of pending ballot initiatives.
Washington Post Reported, “If passed, the resolutions would completely abolish slavery in those states, although they would not automatically change protocols on prison labor or prisoner pay. While not all states have constitutions that are clear Of the three that do allow slavery and involuntary slavery as criminal penalties, only three passed similar legislation to remove the exception – Colorado was the first to do so in 2018, followed by Nebraska and Utah two years later.