I put this on www.getajobwithacriminalrecord.blogspot.com and figured I'd share it here as well.
In my community, one cannot throw a rock without hitting a church. One should not throw rocks at churches by the way. However, this county (Guilford) here in North Carolina is know by too many as "Guilty" County. It may possibly be the hardest county in the state to get a job in with a criminal record. I have no "facts" to back up the claim but I do have a dozen years listening to former offenders talk about their situation. All the world's major religions are represented here but this is mostly a Christian community. One of the most important values of Christianity is forgiveness. We can forgive Aunt Sidney for spilling her tea on our plate at the last family Christmas dinner but can we do more? What about the sex offender who never stops paying for his crime? What about the middle aged man who dealt drugs when he was in his twenty's? How about the woman who stole money from her employer? All have done jail time. When do we allow them to fully rejoin society? How much punishment after jail / prison do they still have to endure? The ex-offender stigma seems to follow one for the rest of their lives.
We, the United States, now have the largest prison population in the world. If I may paraphrase Dr. Phil "How is that working out for us?" Some kid has a bag of weed and it is his third strike in California and off he goes to prison for the rest of his adult life. How is that serving our community? It sure is not helping him any! Plus, the tax payer gets the bill. If this does not sound like Lose Lose Lose deal for all, I don't know what does. Meanwhile the doctor's or lawyer's coke using son goes through the justice system for the rich and avoids a criminal record all together and hopefully gets some help. He is forgiven and his crime forgotten. It does not hurt that he happens to be a white guy. But I digress. Those we continue to punish years and years after they have "done their time" become a burden on society. They cannot find decent dignified work, maintain healthy relationships and dehumanize those who dehumanize them. This is pretty much lose lose lose again!
We, the United States, now have the largest prison population in the world. If I may paraphrase Dr. Phil "How is that working out for us?" Some kid has a bag of weed and it is his third strike in California and off he goes to prison for the rest of his adult life. How is that serving our community? It sure is not helping him any! Plus, the tax payer gets the bill. If this does not sound like Lose Lose Lose deal for all, I don't know what does. Meanwhile the doctor's or lawyer's coke using son goes through the justice system for the rich and avoids a criminal record all together and hopefully gets some help. He is forgiven and his crime forgotten. It does not hurt that he happens to be a white guy. But I digress. Those we continue to punish years and years after they have "done their time" become a burden on society. They cannot find decent dignified work, maintain healthy relationships and dehumanize those who dehumanize them. This is pretty much lose lose lose again!
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