I saw a letter to the editor in the paper the other day. I don’t know if the woman was writing from personal experience, because of a loved one or just what she had seen around her but she brought up a very valid point. She basically asked the question: if a person does his or her time, pays for the crime, then why don’t we see it as just that? We give people who have been in trouble with the law a hard time and then wonder why they return to what got them in trouble to start with. 

The economy is still rough. There is no denying it. But as I thought about that woman’s letter, I understood what she meant. People get paroled from prison for their drug convictions, then they can not find a job to meet their parole requirements. I have seen a woman get the third degree over writing bad checks eleven years earlier because she was honest about it in a fast food job application. A misdemeanor had her judged harsher than necessary. There is no doubt someone with a drug felony is getting an even harder time.

So, the question is, where does the rehabilitation factor come in? If we deny people jobs, turn our backs on them, refuse to give them a chance, then are we not interfering with the rehabilitation of that person? Several repeat offenders have stated they could not get a job. They said they had no way to make money. They could not get a job.

It is my understanding that the Patriot Act is suppose to be about protecting us from terrorist attacks. We had drug and alcohol problems before 9-11, we had felonies and misdemeanors before then, too. You want honesty on an application, someone gives it to you, and you turn them down? The truth is what the Patriot Act is about, right? Someone who is planning an attack gets to set off a red flag for nearly two years and shoots up a military post or attacks are made on passengers on a plane even today. Someone who made a mistake, paid for it and admits to it is ostracized. Seems like the wrong people are being penalized here.

Getting clean is hard but it can be done. Being honest about it is a matter of integrity. If someone is honest about it, give him a chance. Political correctness is helping the wrong people. Try remembering what rehabilitated means and look at the individual situation.  He doesn’t want a Catch-22, he just wants a job.