Civil death is the loss of civil rights for a person who is still alive due to a felony conviction. This can include the suspension of personal liberty, voting rights, and privacy. Some rights may be reinstated, but this varies by jurisdiction. Prisoner rights advocates oppose permanent civil death, arguing that it places prisoners in a vulnerable position. In some cases, civil death may refer to the suspension of normal rights by the government for security reasons.
Civil death refers to the loss of all civil rights of a person who is still physically alive. Civil death is usually a consequence of felony conviction, which can deprive the convict of all basic civil rights both during the period of punishment and after the sentence has been completed. Some civil rights can be reinstated after the completion of a criminal sentence, but this varies by jurisdiction. The term “civil death” can also sometimes be used to describe a specific situation in which rights are denied, particularly in court cases where a judge has ruled that no defense can be applied.
The role of civil death plays a large part in the political and social philosophies of a country. In a nation where citizens are afforded broad civil rights, civil death can forever alter the course of a person’s future. Under more totalitarian regimes where individual civil rights may be of less concern, this type of punishment may carry less weight or may not even be a legal concept. The more rights a citizen is granted, the more devastating the potential consequences of civil death.
Some of the rights that may be suspended or removed by a civil death include the right to personal liberty, freedom of speech, voting rights, property rights, gun ownership, and privacy. These rights are almost universally suspended during detention, but many extend beyond the period of detention. In many places, a person convicted of a felony can no longer participate in voting and may be barred from serving on a jury. Some states and regions allow partial entitlement to be reinstated on a case-by-case basis, but this type of civil reinstatement is far from universal.
Prisoner rights advocates oppose the justice of permanent civil death to convicts who complete a prison sentence. Since the convict has, in effect, paid a debt to society equal to her crime, it can be argued that continuing to deny rights is an undue difficulty. Furthermore, some argue that total loss of rights upon sentencing places prisoners in a vulnerable position to abuse without recourse both in and after prison.
In some cases, civil death may refer to situations where normal rights are suspended by the government. This is often done in the name of security precautions and may include suspending your right to privacy or protecting you from unreasonable searches. In more controversial cases, it can include the suspension of habeas corpus, which normally prevents a suspect from being detained without charge beyond a time limit. While some argue that measures such as the suspension of civil rights can help increase security in a dangerous world, critics often return to Benjamin Franklin’s dictum that “those who give up essential liberty to gain some temporary security do not they deserve neither liberty nor security.”
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