Complicated for the Convicted 

By: Donyae Trawick

December 15, 2019 

The Issue At Hand

There are about 2.3 million Americans in jail currently, while more than 650,000 people are released from jail each year. How do these people survive? Some who are deserving and willing of these paying jobs, felons. Felons, scrutinized upon because of their past lives, their past mistakes, are often rejected by prejudice people hold against them.   After serving their time and learning their lessons, felons often yearn for a second chance within society. This not only involves the positive journey of finding a stable emotional and mental lifestyle, but a financial one as well. These men and women have been blocked from jobs and careers because of the scrutinizing stereotype that they are untrustworthy and irresponsible.  This "societal reentry" is not only extremely frustrating, but according to Trade Schools, “securing any kind of employment at all is often the biggest challenge for ex-offenders and felons in this country” . How are they to show any improvement if they aren’t given a chance to display it?

Probation 

In the United States, probation began when John Augustus persuaded a judge to release a drunkard under his custody. Probation is the release of an offender that was subjected to a period of improving behavior under supervision. Probation displays the restraining idea that you are not completely "free" from the system. Although you are no longer physically present in a cell, there are still other consequences that follow. For example, if you need to your probation officer often restricts the hours of when you are allowed to be out of the house. This could be anywhere from 10 am to 5 pm. This, and other rules like it, restricts when previous offenders can work making it even harder to find a job. 

Personal Life 

Unfortunately, families still pay the price of their loved ones when they are released. Overall nearly half of the American children are prevented opportunities with jobs, housing, and education. According to CAP, that translates to about 33 and 36.5 million—have at least one parent with a criminal record. It is extremely staggering to realize that they families are affected by such a statistic. Family income is one of the strongest factors of economic instability. States by Vallas, these families face "challenges in securing employment or accessing basic income support to help meet basic needs, children suffer both short and long-term negative consequences. It affects their language development, their school performance, their educational attainment, health outcomes, employment and earnings". Not given a share shot in life is creating a long term issue is rapidly destroying these families. As McDonald's hires ex-felons, it would be greatly impossible for anyone with a family to survive off a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour!

What's Being Done

A big issue is that companies will not hire felons under any circumstances. Employers fear that the public will find out that they are hiring these “dishonest” people, which will eventually destroy the company’s reputation. According to the United States Equal Employee Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal law does not prohibit employers from asking applicants about their criminal history. The EEOC federal laws do prohibit employers from discriminating against applicants that are convicted felons when using criminal history information. The question is considering if companies hire them considering their past or not?

However, there are jobs that currently offer these people hoping for a second chance, somewhat of an opportunity. According to college consensus, there are "ten of the highest paying jobs that range from an HVAC technician to oil fielders". They could be anything from truck drivers, carpenters, welders, to freelancers.  A plenitude of these jobs offer workers to calm down and let out any tension they may have. Fortunately, if you choose to increase your skills as a welder and specialize in an in-demand field, you could earn up to $60,000 per year or more.These jobs give the opportunity to interact with others in a manner that provides growth and improvement! People even join the military as you can consider a range of factors to contribute to the growth that these potential advocates may need.

We can always make a start in the community of as there over 70,000 ex convicted felons that reside within Philadelphia! The start begins within.