Five US states vote to ban slavery

Residents of Alabama, Vermont, Louisiana, Oregon and Tennessee will vote on referenda to enshrine in the constitutions of their states a provision banning the criminal penalty of slavery.

The corresponding data are given by the electoral commissions of the listed states, BBC reports.

Voters will decide on November 8 whether or not to remove the exceptions from their state constitutions in an effort to entirely eradicate slavery. The conclusion could make it possible for inmates to resist forced labor. Currently, 800,000 people toil for little wages or nothing at all. Seven states do not provide wages to inmates for the majority of employment assignments.

Change advocates claim that it is an exploitative loophole that needs to be addressed.

However, some claim that the change is costly and can have unforeseen effects on the criminal justice system.

The US constitution outlawed chattel slavery, in which a person is treated as the legal property of another, 157 years ago, but it provided convicted criminals with an exemption.

The majority of the US still permits slavery as a form of punishment for crimes.