Constitutions in more than a dozen states still have language authorizing enslavement and involuntary servitude as criminal punishment. (Photo: Trevor Bexon/Nevada Current)
Nevada voters will decide whether to get rid of slavery and involuntary servitude as a form of criminal punishment from the state constitution on the 2024 ballot.
If successful, the amendment would remove language from the Nevada Constitution that allows the use of slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishments. The amended text would read: “Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever be tolerated in this State.”
In Nevada, ballot measures must survive two consecutive sessions before going to a vote of the people. The constitutional amendment passed the Nevada Legislature unanimously in 2021 and 2023.
The ballot question will now appear on the November ballot where voters will need to approve and ratify the proposed amendment to the state constitution.
During its time in the Nevada Legislature, the amendment was sponsored by Democratic State Sens. Dallas Harris and Patricia Spearman, and State Assemblyman Howard Watts III.
“Nevada enshrined slavery and involuntary servitude as a punishment for crimes in our own state constitution, and it has remained in our foundational document for more than 155 years,” said Watts in prepared remarks supporting the amendment.
The ballot question has no organized opposition and has been endorsed by the ACLU of Nevada, Nevada Black Legislative Caucus, and the Abolish Slavery National Network.
Constitutions in more than a dozen states still have language prohibiting enslavement and involuntary servitude, except for criminal punishment.
In practice, slavery and involuntary servitude were abolished in the U.S. Constitution under the Thirteenth Amendment, however, the amendment does allow the practice of slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for convicted criminals. But the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment effectively makes the use of slavery and involuntary servitude on convicted criminals unconstitutional.
In recent years, several states have removed language allowing slavery and involuntary servitude for convicted criminals from their state constitutions.
In 2018, Colorado revised its constitution to ban slavery and involuntary servitude, followed by Utah and Nebraska in 2020. In 2022, voters in five states — Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont— voted for ballot measures to repeal language from their state constitutions that allows for enslavement or servitude as punishments for crimes
The Abolish Slavery National Network has pushed states to remove language allowing slavery and involuntary servitude for convicted criminals from their state constitution, arguing the move could have major legal implications for litigation related to prison labor pay.
The legal loophole led to a number of racist measures following the Reconstruction Era including “black codes” or petty offenses that led to forced labor when fines couldn’t be paid by Black citizens. Some southern states also practiced “convict leasing,” a practice where both state governments and companies leased prisoners to perform free and forced labor.
“It’s time for Nevada to also close this chapter and open a new page where the foundation of our government reflects our shared values for freedom. We must ensure that nobody will ever live the horror of state-sanctioned slavery and servitude ever again,” Watts told lawmakers in 2023.
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