I never understood the whole felon thing, if that is allowed discrimination outside certain roles how can those people ever be expected back to society? Ofc, they are going to do more crime if it is their only realistic option for reasonable income.
I, for one, believe that felons should lose some rights. Personally I think felons should keep speech and voting rights, but anything related to violence should be prohibited.
I strongly suggest that anyone considering denying someone employment for the reason "I don't like felons" seek legal counsel before putting this reason in writing to the rejected applicant.
I was arguing with a friend that convicted felons shouldn't be discriminated against in job searches, or they will never become upstanding members of society. Then later I was thinking about how someday I'm going to rent out my apartment. And if I do a background check on a tenant, and it turns out they are a convicted felon, I honestly couldn't let them rent the apartment because it's too risky. I feel bad about it, but when it comes to risking my own assets, I can't do it!
There needs to be massive revision across society if this were to happen, jobs, housing, life...it is all burdened for the felon greater than the time in prison was. Many have trouble just adjusting to things like the choices in the supermarket...let alone navigating the troubles of finding housing.
In the town I live in, (Inland NW, US), the majority of "affordable" rentals are all rented by a small number of property management companies which do not seem to be local and have 1-800 numbers. This covers a very sizable portion of the apartment buildings...guess what...they DO NOT rent to people with drug felonies...burglar...sure. But if you sold marlijuana 20 years ago you cannot rent from them...period.
So...combine that with an area which the average rent has tripled in the last 20 years...with a massive shortage of for sale properties and what are these people to do?
Work and other things are tricky as well...it isn't that a felon cannot get a job...but they are very likely to be manipulated by their employer. They will typically be paid less and be treated differently than their coworkers.
Couple all that with the ineligibility for SBA loans if you have felony convictions...now what?
You are likely to be able to get a passport and such...but most will never truly see these things go off their record permanently...unless you get a withheld judgement you are still required to say "yes" to the have you ever been convicted question. Employers being required to ask "in the last x years have you been convicted?" solves that issue...allows for the punishment to be served and forgiven. "have you ever been convicted?" assumes there is no retribution possible ever.
It's interesting seeing people get upset at this. I'm a felon - and this makes sense to me. It's your business, you should choose who works for you.
While it's illegal in the US for most places to outright not hire you solely because you're a felon, you'll have a hard time actually proving that.
If you go by the numbers, felons are more likely to break the law again than folks that aren't felons. You can argue up and down the _why_ around this, but that's the numbers.
I'm not saying I agree with it, but it's your right to hold your opinion and run your business in a way you see fit.
I agree with you that on the fundamental level I don’t like the idea of rights being perpetually limited on the basis of being a convicted felon. As far as I’m concerned once a person has served their sentence, including parole, they have paid their debt to society in full and shouldn’t be barred from exercising any rights that non felons enjoy. This isn’t limited solely to the right to bear arms but also the right to vote, which many states still bar for convicted felons. If we as a society are so uncomfortable with the people who have paid their debt that we deem they must be prevented from exercising their rights even after serving their sentence, then perhaps it’s time we take a hard look at the failings of our “corrections” system.
On a hypothetical level, even if I did support the current laws barring convicted felons of certain rights in perpetuity, I would still have a problem with the way this is being administered today. I’ve read some pretty damning reports on some of the discriminatory practices that continue at the institutional level within the broader criminal justice system which seem to primarily affect certain segments of our population. Poor people, particularly minorities and specifically black males, face some very specific challenges when it comes to things like selective enforcement, pretrial plea bargains, rates of conviction and length of sentencing. At this point I can’t really describe our justice system as anything but blatantly discriminatory.
Even in a more equitable and just system, I personally wouldn’t support the taking away of rights in perpetuity, and I certainly don’t support it when it seems to have such a deliberate and specific impact on certain groups.
Part of the problem is it is legal to discriminate against felons and so many paths to success in our society are closed to them. A person with a felony is denied the pursuit of happiness.
Considering the restrictions on felons obtaining a job, a firearm, even voting, I would say this this story definitely represents the exception rather than the rule when it comes to how we treat them.
Please do not confuse "felons" with violent and sexual offenders.
Obviously you do not want to employ people with those kinds of backgrounds in a setting where they could repeat past behaviour, but there is an overwhelming number of felons without violent or sexual records and by denying them employment, you are participating in a system designed to coerce poor, uneducated and misguided individuals into repetitive criminal behavior.
If you already understand this distinction between non-violent and violent federal offenders, please consider reflecting it with your choice of words as to not cause further harm to others caught in this system.
That's a bit of a false equivalency. That's like saying why not drop out of college? Bill Gates did and he turned out fine.
Those positions are not a dime-a-dozen. For the regular working person, being a felon is a very heavy weight to carry and it immediately discredits or otherwise disqualifies many people, where they rarely have a chance to even have their story heard.
Its great news for those who have not served time but have become homeless due to a complete inability to become employed.
No matter how thin you slice the piece of cheese there's always going to be a top half and a bottom half and agonizing over the suffering result of intentional misbehavior, ignores the larger pool of suffering experienced by those who never did anything wrong, other than maybe not be born in the right place, or to the right parents, or the right skin color, or the right gender, etc.
I'm not going to wring my hands at the injustice committed against a felon because some law school grad who never committed a felony can now get a law job, solely because a felon can't.
I find it hilarious social commentary that the average HN commenter commiserates with felons but not with the lower 99% of the working population.
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