You wrote: “put the past where it belongs, don’t turn it into an albatross people have to carry around forever”
I can’t argue with that. In fact, it’s the humane thing to do.
But, unfortunately, it sometimes goes against common sense. Something like one violent felon in three will re-offend.
And let’s be honest. Someone with the mindset to torture a dog or pull a gun on a bank clerk, well, their mind just works differently than the average person.
So I’d very, very leary of hiring any ex-felon, especially one with violence on his/her record.
It’s just common sense. Is that fair to the ex-felon, or is it fair to society? No.
No easy ansers here.
That still leaves 2/3 of the violent felons and all the non-violent felons which these days make up the vast majority. That’s a whole lot of probably not bad apples getting thrown out.