One of the most important political issues of mine...

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Tass:

what happens is that he goes right back to the only life he knows and the only way he can make a buck... and you'll end up being that one behind the barrel of his 45... it does no good for society to have the cycle of crime continue.

Yes, so lets give him access to dangerous medicines so he can kill people in secret

[:) Smiley]

Have some government jobs available for ex-cons.

The real problem though isn't so much reformed convicts having problems finding jobs though. It's that many of them never reform.

[Al B. Sure!]

Smiley:

thats the thing... someone gets out of jail after a 5 year sentence and now can't get a job... let's just say he was a drug dealer and was making a pretty good amount of money til he got locked up... now, he's having trouble getting a job, even ones that pay minimum wage... it don't take much for him to go right back into crime where the hours are shorter and the pay is better... the problem aint that many criminals never reform... the problem is many never get the chance to reform.

[Vandal-1]

Yes Redicence is like 50 to 80% on addictions and offenders with borderline to psychotic conditions,but that does not make the wrongly convicted or truely reformed 20-50% unviable,especially if they are in enviroments that do not gestate crime through poverty and dehumanization.
Execute 1st degreee killers and take them out of the equation like the common law mandates and I don,t know create a organization that supports these men when they are in need like there gangs do.something like AA or NA keep some guidance in their lives. I know I ll be attaked but the churches in America used to somewhat do this and it is a religouse issue to christians since we believe that we will only recieve mercy if we render it and that we are all sinners just some of us got caught by the law so that we could be convicted in our hearts and therefore atone repent and change.

[Timexwatch]

Speer: Have you ever worked with ex-cons, much less ex-cons convicted of violent offenses? It's not pretty. The guys I've worked with are often angry, unfocused and flakey. They're often late, bring their problems into work, steal a bit, have poor communications skills and other things. If I was a business owner, I wouldn't hire an ex-con unless he had a laundry list of reputable references behind him since he got of jail.

I'm a bit cynical. Maybe Lincoln or somebody else involved in corrections could shed some more light on the subject?

[The Mad Monk]

Albert, I think tax breaks for hiring ex-cons is a fine idea. Don't work-release programs offer something similar to employers?

[tandeetaylor]

Originally posted by Asher

Less tax money for my public healthcare.

Why don't we give businesses tax breaks for hiring white boys too? How does that "effect" you?

HEY HEY HEY guys, it's "affect."

And I don't see why they should get tax breaks. Regular people need jobs too.

[tandeetaylor]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Tassadar:

and what happens to that man when he is refused at every job he applies for?

He's forced to resort to rape.

[DRoseDARs]

I stopped reading posts 'bout 6-7 down from the top, but I'll add my two cents: My lady friend Marshe was convicted of some crime or another in her younger teens. She went through her sentence just fine. She has since been a model citizen and a damn hard worker. Marshe has had some trouble with her record coming back up, but she has done pretty well for herself. I don't know if she plans on going to college, but there really isn't anything stopping her beyond working.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Timexwatch
Speer: Have you ever worked with ex-cons, much less ex-cons convicted of violent offenses? It's not pretty. The guys I've worked with are often angry, unfocused and flakey. They're often late, bring their problems into work, steal a bit, have poor communications skills and other things. If I was a business owner, I wouldn't hire an ex-con unless he had a laundry list of reputable references behind him since he got of jail.

I'm a bit cynical. Maybe Lincoln or somebody else involved in corrections could shed some more light on the subject?

This is more-or-less what I was going to say. The problem is that a lot of cons are cons because they have values that are antithetical to holding down a job: they don't care about rules, they're focused only on themselves and their own gain, etc.

(Actually, I should have said "holding down a low-level job," since the description I wrote fits corporate CEOs perfectly. But then, a lot of them end up as cons.)

The other thing to consider is how people get jobs to begin with. Something like 90% of all job openings in the US are never advertisied; the jobs are filled some other way, usually by word of mouth. In other words, the easiest way to get a job is to know people who can get you a job. Needless to say, this puts cons (and anyone else forced to resort to the classifieds) at a real disadvantage.

That being said, I think the tax break idea is a good one.

[DanielXY]

I think the german system is working good with records and stuff:
- first time offenders = no record (excluding everything you would get more than 2 years for - first time thats only, murder, rape, kidnapping, and such)
- You have the right to lie about your record if asked and the job is in no way connected to the type of crime (if you robbed a bank you dont have to tell on your construction job)
- after 7 years each entry in record gets deleted (in the public record )

[Al B. Sure!]

Timex:

i opened the thread saying i knew many ex-cons and i even work with some... i'm not seeing them do anything but be good employees... if anything, they seem too good for their mcdonalds jobs...

anyway, what about my other question... why has no politician ever cared about this issue? seems like it is morally right and it reduces crime... two pluses and seemingly no negatives...

[yavoon]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
Timex:

i opened the thread saying i knew many ex-cons and i even work with some... i'm not seeing them do anything but be good employees... if anything, they seem too good for their mcdonalds jobs...

anyway, what about my other question... why has no politician ever cared about this issue? seems like it is morally right and it reduces crime... two pluses and seemingly no negatives...

no negaitves? are u insane? how do u politically explain refusing to tell someone that another person is a violent criminal. he gets a job and stabs a pregnant employee to death. how well do u think fox news will play that?

if u r going to refuse ppl information and say that u know better then them. and they end up getting shanked, then ur ass is on the frying pan soto speak.

[Al B. Sure!]

again... the only reason why there's repeat offenders is because they can't get a good job with a criminal record so they resort back to crime... get them jobs and they won't commit more crime.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Albert Speer
again... the only reason why there's repeat offenders is because they can't get a good job with a criminal record so they resort back to crime... get them jobs and they won't commit more crime.

I'm not buying that. I'd say it's somewhere in the middle. Some would stop, if they could get a job, but not every one of them.