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

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by Kevin

As far as hiring practices go, every employer who places an employee into a situation where trust is a factor has a strong interest in knowing that individual's background. To that end, that employer needs to be able to know whether it's hiring former felons.

That's what background checks are for. There's no need to ask for this kind of information on the application though.

Felons are more likely to steal and get an employer sued, so a smart employer absolutely will discriminate here.

Show me the stats. I would have agreed with you if you had said felons who are not gainfully employed are more likely to steal and so forth.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

That's because the criminal justice system and general public are incapacitation and retribution oriented and not rehabilitation and reintegration oriented...Society doesn't want to address the socioeconomic issues that lead some to commit instrumental crimes to make money in the first place, and Americans don't want to address how to reintegrate people into society and reduce recidivism...A smart America would see how investing in OUR future isn't synonymous with giving offenders a free ride.

I dedicate my next five heartbeats to you. You're awesome.

Originally Posted by 33girl

If every place you went to get a job immediately trashed your application, don't you think that would make you inclined to just say "fuck it" and find food/clothing/$$/shelter by any means necessary?

Oh, but that will NEVER happen to you, so it's a moot point.

Of course, because only guilty people go to prison. Oh...wait.

Originally Posted by sweetmagnolia

Many disenfranchisement laws trace to the mid-1800s, when they were crafted to bar blacks with even minor criminal records from polls. Today this poisonous legal lineage tells not only in the South, which retains the most repressive statutes, but in states such as New York, where ex-parolees theoretically get their rights back but in reality encounter local election officials who demand discharge papers that don't exist, give misleading information and find other reasons to turn them away. A class-action lawsuit in New York charges that this system bars so many voters in high-crime neighborhoods that the districts effectively have lost their voice. In Florida, where many felons are barred forever unless the governor personally decides otherwise, 8 percent of adults cannot vote -- including one in four black men."

Thumbs up.