DoJ survey of states' procedures for restoring civil rights, e.g. RKBA

Civil Disabilities of Convicted Felons: A State-by-State Survey
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INTRODUCTION
Under federal law and the laws of many states, conviction of a felony has consequences that may continue long after a sentence has been served. For example, convicted felons may lose essential rights of citizenship, such as the rights to vote and to hold public office, and may be restricted in their ability to obtain occupational or professional licenses. Under the federal gun control laws, and under the laws of many states, felons lose their firearms privileges. These and other "collateral" consequences of a felony conviction are burdens that follow from conviction, in addition to any prison sentence, probation, or fine imposed by a court. Restoration of one or more of these rights frequently can be achieved, either automatically by the passage of time or the occurrence of an event, such as completion of sentence, or through some affirmative executive or judicial act, which may be based on evidence of rehabilitation.

Although it may come as a surprise to many, a number of significant disabilities that are imposed upon conviction are imposed by state, rather than federal, law, even when the conviction is for a federal rather than state offense. The loss of the rights to vote, to hold state office, and to sit on a state jury is chief examples of such disabilities. Just as state law imposes a disability on a federal felon, so too a federal felon may be able to employ a state procedure to remove the disability, instead of employing the only presently available federal restoration mechanism, presidential pardon.1

The summaries that follow survey the principal laws of the 50 states and the District of Columbia that deal with the effect of a felony conviction upon the rights to vote, to hold office, and to sit as a juror, and upon the ability to possess firearms. While the focus of the survey is the loss and restoration of political rights and firearms privileges, employment-related disabilities are also touched upon, as are registration requirements for sex offenders. The summaries are not intended to be exhaustive, since the complexity of the law in some jurisdictions makes summarization difficult. Further, new legislative enactments and judicial and administrative interpretations arise continually. Accordingly, the text of relevant state statutes, current case law, and the policies and interpretations of state and local agencies that control the exercise of a particular right must be consulted for additional detail and up-to-date interpretation.
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