The injustice of the justice system

Disclaimer: Please note that this entry is deep. If your head hurts, or will hurt or you have a short attention span move on. Now on to the blog.

Quick quiz. Which of the following is a felony:

a) carrying 1g of heroin

b) beating ones mother to a pulp with a plumbers wrench

c) all of the above

The answer of course is C. Sure there are different classes of felonies, but both are felonies nonetheless. And in the process of doing a criminal background check, both show up the same way. That however isn't the real tragedy. The problem arises when a former convicted felon would like to actually try and become a productive member of society. Why is this an issue? Because society doesn't let them.

Criminal enterprise is cyclical because generally, society doesn't give criminals second chances. Take for example an individual convicted of a felony in 1989. After serving time and meeting all requirements of parole they are free to rejoin society like the rest of us. Except in addition to their time served, now the person can't vote and finding a job is tough. Why in 2009 does an employer care more about the felony in 1989 than the 20 years of good behavior? Insurance. It's more expensive for a business to get insurance with a felon on the payroll. Jobless, with few options to be an active member of society what else is left? (This is where Jokey suggests rapping).

I certainly understand that once someone commits a crime they lose rights. They lost their chance to be whatever they wanted to be. But there are actually people that try and "get their lives together." It's these people who are harmed by the "cruel and unusual punishment" of the stigma society places on felons. A conviction over 10 years old isn't admissible in court and can't be used against someone as evidence because it's too prejudicial--jurors tend to assume once a criminal always a criminal. Unfortunately society doesn't have the same rule for the same reasons. Employers especially and people generally assume that if one did time, they will go back down that path again and soon.

However it's this short sightedness that tends to lead former criminals back to lives of crime. Assuming you the reader is a normal law abiding citizen (and given the demographics of people who tend to have Internet access to even read this site I think that's a safe assumption), let's put you in the shoes of a felon. Say hypothetically you are in the car one day with a friend you haven't seen in a while. Your friend has 10 ecstasy pills in the center console of the car for whatever reason. You're pulled over, and for whatever reason the cop has cause to search the vehicle and finds the X. You're both charged with possession. Maybe you have a wack attorney and you're convicted and sentenced to 2 years probation + 60 days in jail (you being a first time offender and all). Now you've got this nice felony conviction on your record. It can't be expunged because you were convicted and served at least 60 days in jail. Due to your incarceration you lost your nice high paying job and no one else will hire you because you're a FELON. Now what? What would YOU do?

Now imagine someone who pretty much made their living as a criminal or maybe was a drug addict who committed crimes in order to get money for their next hit. Several years of jail actually works to rehabilitate them and they want to rejoin society as a law abiding citizen. "Get out of the game" so to speak. But we won't let them in. Sure we can send them to special programs to get job skills and training--our taxes are used for these programs for ex-cons and poor people to get these skills. But what good are skills when an employer won't hire them? What else do they know? What else are they good at? So what do you think they're gonna do?

The criminal justice system is supposed to do three things: deter criminal behavior, rehabilitate criminals, and provide society with retribution. A felon who stays clean for a certain amount of time, wants to rejoin society and has paid their debt to society--in other words the justice system has done it's job--should get the chance to contribute and REALLY pay back that debt by becoming a tax paying citizen. Unfortunately for them, we won't let them.