Posted on 06/29/2016 4:43:22 AM PDT by Kaslin
Just got out of jail? Odds are that within five years, you'll get caught doing something illegal and go back to jail.
This is bad for ex-cons, their victims, their families and America.
Some of these people, of course, are career criminals who ought to stay in jail. But most are people who deserve another chance. They are more likely to stay straight if they find work. Work gives people purpose. It fills the idle hours that get many people into trouble.
But America makes it extra hard for ex-cons to find work. Some states make it illegal.
Illinois bans ex-convicts from more than 118 professions.
I understand why people might not want ex-cons to be bank security guards or cops, but in many states (Illinois isn't unusual) the list of forbidden jobs goes way beyond that.
The Illinois Policy Institute, a free-market group that tries to get these laws tossed out, reports that ex-cons must give up on trying to become a nurse, architect, interior designer, dancehall operator, teacher, dietician, acupuncturist, cosmetologist, buyer of slaughtered livestock, geologist, etc.
Why? Who cares if a livestock buyer or geologist once served time? If employers want to hire him, why tell them, "No"?
When Lisa Creason was 19, she tried to steal from a cash register at a Subway sandwich shop. She says she only stole because she needed food for her baby. Creason was caught and arrested, and she served a year in jail.
Twenty years later, Creason graduated from nursing school. But when she went to take the test that would allow her to get a nursing license, she learned that because she was once convicted of a "forcible felony," her career path was impossible.
She said it felt as if the bureaucrats had told her: "I was meant to be in the 'hood, meant to be on government assistance."
This is not a good message.
"Lisa is a great example of someone who has changed her life," says the Institute's Kristina Rasmussen on my TV show this week. "She is reformed. She wants to be a productive member of society." It has been 20 years since Lisa committed her crime, "but government gets in the way of her pursuing her profession."
The good news is "this year we got a bill passed and it will go to the governor. So there is hope for Lisa Creason."
It's hard to get rid of bad laws. It happens one reform at a time.
No one says that crimes these convicts committed don't matter, but punishing them forever doesn't help. Rasmussen says, "You went to jail, you paid your debt to society. Coming out, how are we going to treat you? Are we going to deny you work that keeps you and your family out of trouble ... deny you that opportunity, and you turn either to a life of crime again or dependency?"
Why do states have so many restrictions? "There are two forces at work," says Rasmussen. "One, government bureaucrats like being busybodies, deciding who gets to do what." They think that makes the world safer.
But there's another factor. "You have people who don't welcome competition," says Rasmussen. Existing businesses and unions don't like newcomers on their turf. "Who's easier to kick out of the pool of potential competitors than people just emerging out of the criminal justice system?"
Existing businesses -- the insiders -- fund politicians who pass rules that make it hard for newcomers to compete with them. The politicians convince themselves that their rules protect customers. But mostly, their rules protect the insiders.
But some competing businesses want to hire ex-cons, and when that works out, it's good for the businesses, their customers and the ex-cons. A Chicago suburb diner called Felony Franks hires only ex-felons, its policy being "that once a person has paid their debt to society after being convicted of a crime, that he or she should have the same rights and opportunities as others."
Of course, some ex-cons can be trusted while others cannot. But it's important to let employers and customers make those calls -- not a controlling, insider-protecting one-size-fits-all government.
GMTA.
In the case of the girl who was trying to get her nursing license, if Illinois won't issue her one, what's to stop her from going to say, Indiana? Or Michigan? (assuming that they will issue....)
Actions have consequences, and you're the sum-total of your life's decisions.
The liability for hiring a felon would be astronomical.
The industry became regulated because hair stylists used chemicals that did a lot of damage to their customers. I remember it in the fifties or sxties.
It was very bad at the time.
Maybe the first step should be to wipe about ninety percent or even more of the laws off the books and concentrate on the things that really matter. The current system is designed to make everyone a lawbreaker and I guarantee that we all are. Those who imagine themselves to be “law abiding” are living in a fantasy world and on top of all that we have one of the world’s worst unindicted felons running for president. How did we get to the point that a person who could never pass a background check to be a security guard can be president or chief justice?
The ‘debt’ is not ‘paid.’
The convict has been punished. That’s all. The window is still broken, the victim has not been made whole. There is no reason to extend trust.
If Mr. Stossel wants to fix this, I recommend he look into establishing a bonding system for ex-cons. Employers can then hire ex-cons knowing that they have recourse if the ex-con betrays them.
It's part of the parole board requirements...
It sounds like his heart is in the right place but he's got Fruit-Loops for brains. He may claim they are "saved" but that should not be grounds to immediately permit them unfettered access to anything and everything.
dfwgator ~ Ok, you hire them.
I have. I also had a roommate who's a convicted felon, he's now my tenant because my job required me to move.
Case-by-case basis. Trusting a random convicted felon isn't the way to bet, but there are notable exceptions, people who actually did learn their lessons.
And they are very grateful for an opportunity to work and live in decent housing!
How do you recommend a person repay the debt then? By unbreaking the window? By unmugging the victim? All justice is, by definition, retributive. If there’s no restorative or rehabilitative value in the punishment, why administer it? Sadism? Vengeance?
The idea of a bond isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s impractical. How is a con supposed to come up with the money for a bond when he just got out of prison and can’t get a job?
Not a bad idea!
And they have to fix the broken window...
Once you’ve paid for your crime, we should forgive people their past and let them make a fresh start.
There are crimes of course for which people should never be released.
But it hardly makes sense to close scores of occupations to ex-cons. Who we protecting? The public?
I think not. People deserve a second chance because this is America.
Yes. I think that because he believes so strongly in the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that when people say the right words, he believes them. They probably do mean it at the time and appear very sincere, but perversions are wired into brains.
I’m sure he also wants to see fruit from his years of the jail ministry.
Many felons are not hired because of bonding requirements. As an insurance company, would you bond a felon working in a bank or a service trade where there are many opportunities to steal? A neighbor recently had her opioid prescription disappear while undergoing a house renovation.
Taking this a step further, most felons are not caught on their first offense. Usually there have been a series of offenses leading up to arrest and conviction. Most of these people come from an environment where crime is accepted as a way of life and practiced by their associates. Convicted and sent to jail, their new associates are convicted criminals as well. Used to be a joke that you sent someone to jail to become a better criminal. Once freed, where do most criminals go? Usually back to the same environment that produced them or to a major city where they can get welfare benefits and associate with other career criminals.
Who’s to blame for this? I blame society for a lot of criminal activity because the family unit has been destroyed. Just look at television and movies to see how the family is shown as being irresponsible and dysfunctional. Worse yet, the father has become a joke figure, corrupting instead of correcting his children.
How do we counter a felon record? Maybe we could start by hiring them for lower level public services and offering housing assistance as long as they hold to an acceptable level of performance. Housing assistance should also be given to welfare recipients as long as progress is being made toward getting off welfare, bettering the individual, and maintaining the housing provided in good repair. The goal is to ingrain responsible behavior and goals that should have come from the family.
Why?
If someone committed a crime twenty years ago, is it necessary to bring it up?
I would rather judge a person on who they are today and could be in the future than judge them by their past.
We have all done things we’re not proud of. And few of us are saints.
Regarding the pastor. He should be more considerate of the whole situation including yours but not yours alone. Those “saved” very much need descipleing The ratio of those “saved” in prison and those in the church is about the same in my opinion.
Regarding Mohammed. Test the situation. Ask he what he heard in the sermon. What he has read in his Bible recently. But of course we better be able to answer such questions. His words will reveal his heart, just like ours do.
Regarding you and me. Maybe the flock is not to be safe in a worldly sense? I know what you are saying though but my reading of the Bible lately is that testing is appropriate and God gets involved personally, not from afar off.
Actions have consequences, and you’re the sum-total of your life’s decisions.
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I have 3 sons and 3 daughters, I’m still trying to drill that message into my youngest son’s head....He’s 16.
Yes.
I would rather judge a person on who they are today and could be in the future than judge them by their past.
Their past is part of who they are today.
With the exceptions a head injury or a real religious experience people don't change their personalities.
We have all done things we’re not proud of. And few of us are saints.
Oh yawn. I don't expect a saint, I do expect that if the guy who cuts my lawn went to prison for home invasion that I be informed of it.
But is that still the case? I get my hair highlighted and colored, but I don’t think it’s too damaging. Yes, I suppose that it could be - someone forgets to set the timer, and my hair is destroyed, but can regulation prevent all of that?
I have suggested something similar before. That is, the creation of very rural ex-convict “trustee” towns that are intentionally low tech.
The primary purpose would be two fold: to provide a place for retirement of ex-con trustees while significantly reducing the potential for recidivism; and second, as a major cost savings to the public.
The town would be run by a manager and a small staff and there would be a nurse on staff. Wooden buildings would act as group homes and small businesses. Deliveries of food and manufactured goods like clothing and some tools from the government and charities would be made to the staff building.
The entire town would be fenced. Not to keep in the trustees, but to keep out outsiders as well as wild animals.
Part of the town area would be for agriculture and animal husbandry. Scrip would be used as currency.
If its a recent crime, that might have bearing on hiring someone. But if a person isn’t a career criminal, its prejudicial and irrelevant.
If we judged every one by their sins, we could never see the potential in them. Few people come out looking good if all we see is their flaws and failings.
Human nature doesn’t change but repentance is possible. Its a biblical teaching.
No one is looking to hire someone who can’t reform. Then there is a difference between career criminals and people who genuinely deserve a second chance.
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