Prisoners re-enter society

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Correct, poverty doesn't cause crime because that would mean that everyone in poverty was criminal. It is, however, a correlate for certain types of offenses and increases the likelihood of offending for these offenses if other conditions are present.

Criminality is a choice. Sure, that choice is influenced by outside factors. However, if we start to excuse that choice due to those factors, we tend to absolve people of responsibility for their own actions. I don't want to ever see someone be able to legitimately raise the defense that "society" made them steal a car, etc.

It isn't really about the ex-prisoner's "choice" to be employed. It is more about the choice of the employers to hire ex-prisoners. Considering the structure of the penal system, the average parolee (one who isn't in love with being incarcerated) would much rather have a job and family to turn to rather than go back to prison.

And they get those jobs in many cases. In many cases they don't. Given the limited ability of the government to hep folks, I'd prefer to return the money to our productive taxpayers rather than use it to improve the prospects of ex-cons.

Considering the structure of our penal system, it isn't just about "criminal douchebags," either. There are a lot of low level and nonviolent offenders whose offenses would not have resulted in incarceration had they not been poor and without legal representation.

I wouldn't want to hire those people either -- I don't want addicts and white collar criminals working for me. It's something employers have the right to know and if they're smart, they will discriminate against these people. It's fair because those people did the crime they were convicted of and it's smart because the employer is just shielding himself from having issues down the road.

Put yourself in the place of the employer. What are you going to do when you have two applications on your desk -- one is a felon, the other is not. What is your choice going to be?

Main point: Tax payers and concerned citizens can pay now or pay later. But we WILL pay. Pay in a literal and/or figurative sense.

So these wastes of oxygen are either going to rob us literally or rob us via government mandate? If that's the case, we might as well make them work for it