Discussion for article #242406
With the dismal U.S. job market, ban the box helps a little. It’s a start.
The prison system we have shuld be a huge resource rather than the economic black hole it is. Prisoners could be evaluated and taught basic skills to bring them up to at least a G.E.D. level before release. If prisons actually served to correct the deficiencies that made crime a better alternative than honest work, they would be a lot more productive than the recidivist loop they are now. My gut feeling is that the huge industry of police, prosecutors, courts, prisons, parole and probations officers requires and provides itself with a steady source of criminals.
The concept of giving forgiveness to people who have paid their debt to society should not just apply in really old cowboy movies. If we are going to call it a corrections system it should produce people who are actually ready to rejoin society. The length of incarceration should be only as long as necessary to repair the inmate’s employment potential.
One really does have to wonder how much of recidivism is personal flaws, and how much is that inability to get a good job with a criminal record.
On the other hand, revolving doors are important for businesses that want to facilitate the re-entry of their clientele. With the present state of the hugely profitable prison industrial complex, post-incarceration barriers to employment are not a bug in the system, but a feature; the grease for the revolving door.
Christie standing in Obama’s limelight is like a rat prodding a lion, it doesn’t accomplish anything.
The President is on the right track and searching for ways to get the ball rolling. Leave it to President Obama to think outside of the box, by banning the box and thinking beyond just the unfair sentencing.
The for profit prison system is an easy target to go after if not easy to get rid of. Start dismantling that and changes will come naturally.
Employers abuse every piece of irrelevant information they get about an applicant. Race, age, gender, and sexual orientation have all been abused. Some employers try really hard to abuse religious affiliation. So of course a record of incarceration that probably has nothing to do with job qualifications will be abused.
I worry about all the information collected on people on the internet; their life story on facebook, their buying decisions, what they read. We may see a whole new class of discrimination, say not hiring people who read liberal blogs. We could also see a resurgence of old prejudices using surrogates like, say, not hiring people who buy ethnic products that correlate with race.
So banning the box makes a lot of sense, and should only be the start in making sure business does not get one shred of data on an applicant that is not relevant to job qualifications.
Bad policy.
Looking at this issue I tend to focus on why people engage in unlawful activities that cause them to become “Convicts.”
Frankly, after spending twelve years providing police services to a Brooklyn, NY community I believe America’s expanding and shameful National Epidemic of Childhood Abuse and Neglect, Poverty, that for more than two generations has deprived untold numbers of American kids from experiencing and enjoying a fairly happy American kid childhood with Safe Streets to travel and play on, is primarily responsible for filling our prisons with depressed, angry, frustrated teens and adults.
Early Childhood Abuse and Neglect that often leads depressed, sometimes suicidal (NY Times May 18, 2015 - Rise in Suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers) children to develop into depressed, angry, frustrated, unpredictable, sometimes suicidal teens and adults lacking empathy and compassion for others, though needing to vent their pent up negative emotions, often causing emotional and physical harm to peaceful people…instead of venting their anger, resentment and pain on the immature single moms and/or dads who introduced them to a life of pain and struggle by irresponsibly building a family before acquiring the practical skills, PATIENCE and means to successfully raise and nurture a developing young child who matures into a fairly happy responsible teen and adult.
Is Jaye DeBlack incorrect about his assessment of many SINGLE MOMS and how they are emotionally harming a substantial population of our nation’s children:
Black (Children’s) Lives Matter; Take Pride In Parenting; End Our National Epidemic of Child Abuse and Neglect; End Community Violence, Police Fear & Educator’s Frustrations
#TakePrideInParenting
#EndChildAbuseNeglect
#ProtectKidsFromIrresponsibleCaregivers