Ex-Cons : How should we treat them?
By CatWrites
@CatWrites (33)
United States
February 7, 2007 3:11pm CST
Parolees and even those who have completed their parole are often still treated like criminals. In some places they can never vote again. Is this fair? Ultimately, no matter what a person is convicted of, they end up serving a life sentece in some way or another. Is that fair? Even if they are convicted of something relatively minor?
3 responses
@loved1 (5328)
• United States
7 Feb 07
I think it depends on what you convicted of. If you are a parolee who did time for molesting small children I don't think you should have any rights whatsoever. In fact I don't think you should ever be released from prison. Some people are understanding about the minor mistakes people have made but you have to realize that trust is something you earn. When you violate that trust it is hard to earn it again.
1 person likes this
@Carrie26 (1587)
• United States
7 Feb 07
They should not be treated any different because some can change and we had a person that had got out of prison a log time ago (not for killing or anything of that matter)he did repairs on our house and he was a nice person and had changed his ways.
1 person likes this
@MyoanBiz (140)
• United States
8 Jun 07
If illegals can spend X amount of years "clean" in order to get a visa, citizenship, or whatever it is they get, then the same principal should apply to convicted felons. Yes, I know you can go through the process of getting your record expunged or pardoned. Have you got any idea of how many pages & how many\what kind of questions are on those forms? (I'm sure each state is different.) I do & I decided that 90% of the asked questions were none of the state's business. In 1975 I was convicted of 2 felonies. I did my time & outside of some minor misdemeanders within the first 7 years(can't get a job with felony record) of release, I've NOT been in any kind of legal trouble. I STILL CAN't vote. The legal system is a very lop-sided monstrosity that talks alot about rehabilitation. You don't get that doing the time & you don't get much help anywhere along the way after you're done doing the time. A legal\criminal record is not much more than a list of extremely bad days that is used against a person in many more ways than you'd care to know about.
1 person likes this
@CatWrites (33)
• United States
8 Jun 07
Exactly. My fiance was convicted of a felony when he was 16. He finished his parole about six months after we started dating. As of right now, it's causing us serious issues just trying to find some place to live that isn't with his mother. I'm staggered by the idea that something stupid he did when he was 16 could prevent him from ever going to school or getting a better job.
He probably would've had a better shot at earning a college degree behind bars.
