Should a conviction still be allowed to hold ex-felons back?

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by Kevin

You're entitled to your opinion.

Thanks, I feel so blessed to have their permission.

No, all of those things would be their choice. Most of the former felons I know who are successful own their own businesses. I know some who do very well. Sprinkler system installation and garage door repair are two fairly simple businesses which pay well.

How does one feed their family or themselves while getting into such a business when people don't want to hire them or take them on. How many sprinkler companies can a heavily populated urban area support? Now thankfully there are businesses that hire felons. They don't hire every felon who applies, but they look at the whole applicant, not just the felony.

Had a client not too long ago...

Would you hire him to fix your garage? (Had he not been your client that is.)

You need a citation to tell you that felons are more likely than non-felons to steal from their employers? As for the other stuff, google negligent hiring.

Actually yes, I do and you didn't provide one.

At any rate, I just did Google recidivism rates and as you could probably predict, most felony convicts have prior felony convictions, at least in Washington, in 2007.

Criminal history is a big predictor of reoffending, but it's the only one of about six big ones that the offender cannot change.(And a dozen lessor predictors) However that says nothing about the risks of the employer. And plenty of ex-felons are not in for violent crimes (or sexual harassment), why would an employer fear to hire them for the negligent hiring reasons?

Because the distinction between ex-felon and clean record is a very real one.

"Got caught"

Well, that's a problem--if they don't connect their actions to consequences, that's why society wants to kick them to the curb. Someone who has proven themselves to be a danger to society should be treated as such.

A) you've made an assumption that ex-felons are dangers to society. B) Society doesn't get to kick people to the curb. The Constitution doesn't grant rights, it protects inherent ones. People deserve to have their rights protected.

So you can kick them to the curb and then put them back in prison or you could make an effort to teach them something different.

We're pretty good at predicting who will reoffend, the statistics are readily available.

I agree, the sex offender statutes are in a state of disarray. Most politicians are too scared to vote for anything which could be seen as 'pro-sex offender.'

Not with sex-offenders we're not. We're really bad at predicting which person will reoffend. There are actual tools (supported by research) that can assess the likelihood of reoffending by non-sex offender felons, and then can give areas to work on such as obtaining employment, replacing antisocial thinking with prosocial thinking, etc. But they don't work well with sex offenders.

Mental Health isn't any better at making those predictions.

But I agree about the politicians.

The money is not even there for that in most places. If your state has that sort of funding, good for it. From where I'm from, our Dept. of Corrections is so chronically underfunded as well as our county jails, that at least here in Oklahoma County, the feds have sued the county and are threatening to take over the jail.

Otherwise services are cut to the bone. I've actually been meaning to do some volunteer work prosecuting prisoners' civil rights claims. Just been too busy with cases that pay as of late.

So OK needs to get it's shit in order. here, DOC gets cut, and everyone works mandatory OT. My state's broke as hell too. But either we want prison to be rehabilitative or punishing or both. We claim both but don't do a lot of the rehabilitation that would actually reduce crime and make society safer.

I see what you did there... comparing going 5MPH over the speed limit to selling crack, raping and killing.

The minimization which goes on, if it does, is not quite on the same level.

I haven't been tagged for speeding since I was 17.

It's on a different scale, but it's the same thought process. So, you've kept speeding, but you didn't get caught? (Also mostly here, talking about non-violent offenders. But there's a difference between the 22 year old involved in violent crime and the 30 year old too. And your use of raping and killing is just as dramatic an overstatement. Rapists would be sex offenders, see previous comments. Murderers would not be out after a 10 year bit in any state I'm aware of.

Drug dealers, car thieves? Same logic. "They have insurance. I need the money. Everyone does it, I just got caught. They're out to get me. " They get busted and say "i'll never do that again." And then they do it again.

Just like people who speed get a ticket, swear they'll never do it again and are going 75 again 30 miles down the road. "This time I'll be more careful. What're the odds that I'll get caught this time? Lightning doesn't strike twice!"

I'm in a position to hire receptionists and interns. I don't really have that problem with receptionists because I mostly hire college kids from good families. As for legal interns, they're probably not going to get into law school with any sort of felony on their record, so I'm somewhat insulated there as well.

Felons never come from good families though right? So you're "safe." That's your silver spoon talking.

It's like buying a house with prior flood damage. Sure, the flood damage has been completely remediated, the owner installed multiple layers of French drains, etc., but just down the street, there's a house that's just as nice with zero flooding history. Which are you going to buy?

As long as you think of ex-felons as "damaged people" you're going to keep thinking like this. I'm not saying that the guys who work with me are even qualified to be a receptionist, I'm saying they're qualified to be hired and work fixing your roof, washing your car, or making your stuff in a factory.