Criminal records

[ashlesha]

I wouldn't want somebody with a criminal record to be responsible for the well-being of my son.

I think it's bullshit that if someone has a criminal record, they're coerced into further crime because they're denied housing and other money-making opportunities.

Both of these things are true, and one obvious place that my opinions lead is to prevent people who have hurt others from being responsible for others. But overall I haven't fleshed out every detail about where I stand, and I'm curious if you have? Please talk about it k

My reason for creating this thread is that I heard today that after a certain period of time like 2 years, the risk that someone with a criminal record poses is less than that of a non offender. I lack further details and I haven't researched for myself, so I don't vouch for this.

[mu4]

Depends on the crime, personality, character, specifics of the person.

I mean one of the worst criminals I knew was Assistant District Attorney.

[valhalla]

Tough question.

I believe that every man and woman has a right to work and the right to freedom from their past.

At the same time, some work is sensitive and requires good character, which might not be as likely with a person who was charged with a crime, so the common opinion goes.

I think the world is to unforgiving in many ways and the system is stacked against people. If you fall out of that system..its challenging to be a part of it again. Employment in the states is connected with health care, so the stakes are high for all involved.

mu4 and I seem to share similar thoughts. I know a small handful of law officials personally (lawyers, and police) who are corrupt to the bone.

I have worked shoulder to shoulder with a number of former criminals. Work ethic is a quality that anyone can posses. Sometimes work is the cure.

[Alonzo]

I damn sure put little to no trust in the US criminal justice system--bad faith, unfairness and inequality of outcome are almost embedded into the DNA of the system (particularly concerning certain demographics), which makes it hard for me to get behind the conclusions and judgments rendered; and so a possessing a criminal record, in and of itself, would not be enough for me to condemn and ostracize someone. I'm reminded of a homeless black woman, Tanya McDowell, who was convicted of 1st degree larceny for "stealing" an education and sentenced to 12 years for sending her kid to an elementary school outside of the district she lived in. Or of another black woman sentenced to 3 years with an additional fine of $30,000 for using her father's address to get her kids into a better school. TF? So these already socially/politically/culturally/financially marginalized individuals now have a criminal record, with much worsened prospects, all because they cared too much for the well being of their kids.... lol I'd feel much more comfortable leaving my kids in the hands of people like that than the garbage, soulless, sociopathic prosecutors and judges that charged and convicted them.

[Adam Strange]

I solved the problem of having good role models for my son by misleading him.

My son once (in fifth grade?) asked me if I'd ever been in jail. He was just goofing around, and when I said Yes, he kind of froze for a minute, shocked. (I never drank or smoked around him. Kids do what they see you do, not what you tell them they should do. I also never lied to him.)

I immediately added, "When I was about your age, my school class went on a tour of the county jail." And I stopped talking at that point.

He looked at me, left the room, and never asked me that question again. Lol. He's quite intelligent, that kid.

Weirdly enough, he's never been in jail, himself.

I guess the schools stopped doing that.

[ashlesha]

The son issue wasn't a major aspect of the op and there are exceptions (like my ex's brother robbed a gas station and hit the cashier with a metal pipe but he was only 18 at the time and I knew him and I didn't feel nervous when he was around my toddler 20 years later)

Anyway, just giving broad strokes about my outlook and asking for nuanced opinions about the use of criminal records.

[Muddy]

The vicious cycle that criminal records put you in is modern society's way of gathering a slave labor force to clean litter off roads and do other things for the state.

[Grendel]

Whizz on a tree in a public park, boom, you're now paraded door to door as a child molester. That is indisputably excessive.

[Adam Strange]

Human productivity is through the roof, but instead of reducing hours, society seems to be cutting back on workers by jailing them and then denying them jobs when they are released.

I don’t think this is the best response.

[Adam Strange]

Some reading for those idle moments: https://www.historyisaweapon.com/def...kersocfun.html

[Not A Communist Shill]

I've never been caught committing a criminal offence although I have broken most of The Decalogue.

[gone]

I've never been caught committing a criminal offence although I have broken most of The Decalogue.

I'm calling the police.

[Tonatiuh]

I've never been caught committing a criminal offence although I have broken most of The Decalogue.

Holster that sidearm, sergeant!